


The Tourist's Guide to Aselia

by ritzcracker



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Graphic Depictions of Scenery, Isekai, Mild Gore, Not Beta Read, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 201,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23776750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ritzcracker/pseuds/ritzcracker
Summary: Dreams don't come true. Well, some do, fair enough, but why this one?
Comments: 80
Kudos: 69





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> No beta, no gods, no men, no rules, just right, Outback Steakhouse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As Bellisario's Maxim instructs: don't examine this too closely.

Dreams don't come true. This is a good thing - if they did, the world would be full of respectable people showing up to meetings without their clothes on, bogeymen, and unlikely trysts with the hot elf from _The Santa Clause_. (You know the one I'm talking about.)

Wishes don't come true, either, at least not entirely, because wishes aren't compatible with the real world. It'd be like one of those butter sculptures - you might be able to get the shape right, but it'd always go bad, in the end.

You don't get happy endings, either, because nothing ever really ends. Everything just keeps going - every spot of light casts a little more shadow.

That's what adulthood is about - a slow accumulation of failures, misfortune and grief, carried day by day until it hobbles you - until it crushes you.

You carry the dreams, too, like balloons tethered to an anvil, but they only get smaller as the weight gets bigger. 

It might surprise you to learn that I'm an optimist.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wishing. I do it all the time. I wish I could win the lottery. I wish I'd spent more time with my parents. I wish people were kinder to one another. Sometimes I just wish the bus would run on time or that my neighbors wouldn't leave their laundry to cool in the machines. It doesn't mean anything - it's just a little thing you say to yourself, an invocation of how the world might be.

But when I was little, I believed in wishes.

I kept my birthday wishes secret. I'd wish at eleven-eleven every day, and I'd wish on shooting stars. Home was wonderful, but the outside world was miserable, and I was always wishing for something better. I would stay up and watch for stars in the light-bleached night sky, and I'd wish. 

You'd think that if a wish ever got granted, it'd be one of the easy ones. Or at least one of the ones that mattered. But nothing ever works out the way you think it should. 

* * *

I woke up.

The girl in the brown dress and apron looked away while I vomited into a tin bucket. "Ugh," I said, "sorry." My hand looked very white beside hers. Mine were nicked here and there with silvery scars - when had that happened? The world undulated as I tried to focus. A hank of pale green hair fell into my face, and I blew it away before I could register the wrongness of it. "Where am I?"

"A House of Salvation, miss," the girl told me, "a cart picked you up in the desert. They said you were nearly buried in the sand, but they dug you out and brought you here."

"The desert? Where are we?"

"A few days south of Iselia."

I smiled. "Oh, like in Sylvarant."

She gave me an odd look. "Um, yes. Your things are in that sack over there, miss, we had to wash your clothes and everything. There's water, in the jug, and porridge if you're hungry."

"Oh. Thanks," I said.

"You..." she paused, fiddling with the edge of her skirt, "you're not a Desian, are you? Only Terry says since you're half-elf and have that stone, you must be, but I thought you looked too nice. You're not one, are you?" 

I looked down at the greenish marble embedded just below the dip in my collarbones. I touched the pointed tip of one ear. "No," I said, faintly, "I'm not a Desian." I waited until she left me, thumping out of the room and down a set of wooden spiral steps, before I stumbled over to the burlap sack. I undid the cord and upturned it onto the bed, pawing through until my hand closed on something hard and cold. It was the handle of a sheathed dagger, the blade as long as my forearm and the pommel decorated with a tiny jeweled spider.

My clothes were practical: dark leggings, a mustard-colored tunic, a wide belt covered in pockets and pouches and straps, and a large, fleece-lined hooded coat, such a dark green that it was very nearly black, but not quite. The boots were dark, supple leather with soles like cleats. My undergarments, such as they were, were dark and simple. I had no jewelry, but I had two long daggers and four smaller daggers of varying make and model, strapped securely in a bandoleer below my arm. 

I had a bedroll, and a stiff leather backpack filled with things like matches, a tinderbox, a canteen - a compass, too, and a handful of unlabeled vials filled with clear liquid. Most of them smelled of nothing, except for one that smelled like burnt almonds. I was clever enough not to taste them.

I looked out the window, then came running down the stairs, dressed and packed. "When did that show up?" I asked, pointing in the direction of the Tower of Salvation. I felt like I was just on the edge of insanity, and just the slightest nudge would tip me into the pit. The girl from earlier looked at me for a moment, eyes wide with incomprehension, before understanding bloomed. She smiled.

"This morning! Isn't it wonderful? I wonder if she'll pass through here. The Chosen, I mean."

* * *

There was a lead weight on the rubber sheet of my personal universe, and I was rolling towards it.

They let me stay at the chapel another night - if only because I was clearly losing my grip and they didn't have the heart to kick me out. I didn't have any money, food, or anything I was willing to barter with, but the priests, too, were poor and hungry, and so there was plenty of nothing to share. 

There was an elderly priest, another middle-aged, and a small flock of novices, all men or boys. The ancillary staff were all women, young and old. Most wore the Martellian holy symbol - an icon resembling the greek Phi - on chains or leather straps. The House itself was much larger than I expected, and not one house at all, but a clutch of buildings and small stretches of meager farmland, all tended to by the novices. There were chickens and goats, an old dairy cow and an old nag that might once have hauled a plow. 

It all looked pastoral, in the way evoked by greenery and trees, but there was grey underneath it all, and death. I'd never seen anything so peaceful and depressing all at once.

I was strangely calm. Not sensible, but calm. 

I went south, taking the road towards Triet.

* * *

It was only on the road that I really became aware of the Exsphere.

It was on my sternum - a tiny, smooth marble set into a piece of delicate metalwork, and flush with the skin. The Exsphere itself was the color of seafoam, cloudy, and gave off faint light in darkness. Without a Key Crest, Exspheres were deadly parasites. But awakened, and worn properly, they made you strong and fast and redoubtable.

I had a weird relationship with my body, and the Exsphere only exacerbated that feeling.

When you're sitting around, staring at walls and contemplating the thoughtless cruelty of the universe, it's easy to feel small and weak and stupid. I had a real talent for making myself miserable, too, and digging so down deep inside myself that there wasn't anything to hold the rest of me up. Exercise should have made me feel just as sick and powerless, but it didn't. It put me in touch with the rest of the world and made me feel alive and real, even when it hurt.

But the Exsphere made me feel like a superhero.

I didn't get tired, not in the same way, or achy. I could run faster, in great bounding leaps over the road, when I wanted to, and I seemed to float where before I had wobbled or slumped. It would have been euphoric if it weren't so dysphoric. It felt like at any moment my body would leap ahead in front of me and leave my brain behind in a grey puddle - or like the high would end and I would find myself crashing. But the crash didn't come.

* * *

There's not a lot to do, traveling by yourself.

It wasn't like driving or biking or taking the bus. I didn't have music or books or even someone to talk to. 

"You're going to have to find something to eat," I said, making conversation with the only person available. "You know how to clean an animal, but I don't think you have the guts to kill one. You're gonna starve and die, and a wolf's gonna eat your corpse. Which is kind of beautiful, in a circle-of-life kind of way." I wasn't really good company. "You're so depressing. _I'm_ so depressing. Haven't you ever heard of 'keeping it light'?"

In the end, I found something like a mulberry tree, and risked it.

I wondered if an Exsphere could prevent dysentery. 

* * *

On the second day - as if summoned by the universe - I met a wolf.

Not a normal wolf - not even a wolf driven mad by hunger. This wolf, wandering in the road bold as anything in the middle of the day, was cow-sized and had teeth like a table saw. There were stretches of road canopied by trees, but so far things had kept away. I'd run into a dog-sized rabbit with red eyes, but I'd just punted that back into the trees and ran as far away as I could manage. This thing, huge and maddened, seemed to taste the air as it turned its massive head towards me, saliva drooling from one corner of its enormous mouth.

I hadn't spotted it in the trees. I hadn't paid attention. Now it was right in the middle of the road, some twenty yards away, eyes locked on mine.

Animal instinct took over. I bolted.

Even with the Exsphere, the wolf was faster. It caught up, heaving pants twisting into guttural moans, and caught my heel in between its front teeth, the barest bit of pressure cutting down to bone. It yanked and tossed me to the ground - I landed sideways, the handle of one of the daggers cracking against a lower rib. The wolf smelled of dog and grime and a kind of fetid sickness, and the halo of stench was almost as oppressive as its size - but only almost.

It dragged me a few feet down the packed dirt, as I screamed, and then it rested one heavy paw on my chest with shattering force. I could see what would happen next as a kind of flash-forward - it'd rip my head off, one easy movement, and I'd be a bloody smear in the dust for the next traveler to find. And then -

I was in the air. I was a good two feet above the wolf's back, the spot where I had been a scar in the earth, and I fell hard. The wolf, bewildered, twisted to right itself, neck bent and snapping in my direction. My foot was smearing red-black stains into the dirt and I couldn't quite feel it, but my faculties recovered just enough to bring my hand to the hilt of a dagger and drive it in the wolf's general direction.

It was sloppy and shallow, glancing along a shoulder blade as I struggled to find footing with one numb foot. The wolf howled, teeth clacking, and lunged at me just as I fell, the dagger coming back to cut a channel across its throat. It was like bursting a balloon - an explosion of viscera as the howls turned into burbling gasps and into nothing. The wolf fell, twitching, and with a bleary detachment I dug the dagger again into the base of its neck.

I watched until it stopped twitching.

I began to breathe again, scraping backwards along the gravel until I could rest against a tree. I felt faint. I felt exhilarated.

Soon enough the feeling in my heel came back - a twinge at first, and then a wrenching pain that made my hands shake and my eyes water. My breath came and went in a hiss, and I pressed my hands to the heel of the boot, until one kind of pain subsumed the other, and I started to really cry. "This can't be how it ends," I insisted, "you can't die from a wolf bite. You can't die here. You have to be able to walk. You have to live. This can't be how it ends."

The wretched mantra became a chant, then slurred into silence. I could see, through the haze of tears, red bubbles bursting between my fingers, and feel as the pain seeped away again. I guessed that this was how blood loss and death felt - a slow, creeping peace. I rocked in place, shaking with grief and fear, until I suddenly came back into myself again.

I blinked. 

I was alive.

I flexed my foot. It didn't hurt.

I was still covered in blood - gone tacky over the intervening minutes - and there were half-circle punctures on either side of my bootheel. The wolf was still there, lying in its own still pool, my dagger buried in its neck. 

I pried off my boot.

The wool sock was stiff with blood, and the inside of the boot itself had a grimy, sticky layer of the stuff, but underneath the crackling smear still on the surface, the skin was unbroken. I damped the sleeve of my jacket and rubbed at it, just to be sure - but I'd been right. There was no trace of the injury - except for those left on my earthly possessions. And there had been a moment there, hadn't there, where I'd suddenly appeared above the wolf?

I could only think in circles so long before my mind got tired.

There was magic in this world, wasn't there? Was it so strange I would have some?

I found a stream a little before dark, two hundred yards from the road and mostly hidden in tall cattails.

I didn't like the idea of bathing right in the middle of nowhere - especially after the attack - but I _needed_ to, for my own well-being. I had two kinds of soap in my pack, and after some experimental scrubbing I found that one was definitely for people, and one for laundry. Nothing would ever really get set-in blood out of wool, but I found the color of my coat was almost perfect for concealing stains. You'd only notice if you were really looking for it.

The tunic would have brown patches, unless I happened to develop cleaning magic as well as teleportation and healing. 

I felt much better after a bath.

* * *

The next day was harder and easier all at once.

The trees and long grass had given way to shrubland, and I could see the desert now, a shimmer of gold on the horizon. I lingered at the last watering hole until daylight forced me on. I took as much water as I could carry, and even then I suspected it wouldn't be enough.

I amused myself by trying to do magic.

I could shift myself a few feet in either direction - 'teleportation' seemed the wrong word, because there was no flash or pop or puff of smoke. It was, instead, as if I fell sideways into a different world that was just like this one - only I was standing somewhere else. It was disconcerting, and hard to aim, like trying to do free throws while on ice skates. If I was moving, I could maintain momentum on the other side, but too extreme a change and the world would go sideways as my internal gyroscope failed to compensate.

I was disappointed not to be able to throw fireballs, but only a little. At least, with this magic, I might be useful.

I'd already decided that I'd try to get involved. I couldn't help it.

There was still a bit of that kid left in me. I wanted adventure! I wanted to do something that mattered! It was so hard _not_ to want it. The aftereffect of my fight - magic, adrenaline - only made the feeling more intense. If I tagged along (and 'tagging along' felt like the wrong description, at my age), I'd be able to help.

* * *

You hope, approaching strangers on an empty road, that everyone involved is going to be decent and upstanding and go on their way.

The two men in bandannas and skull caps didn't inspire optimism, but I held out hope right until they drew steel. There wasn't anywhere to go, I realized. Beyond the packed sandstone path, it was all dunes, and dunes were harder to run in even than snow. Snow didn't get in your eyes and under your fingernails, either, or find its way into your scrapes and cuts. Both men were much taller and heavier than me, and while I might have been faster, I doubted I had the greater endurance.

"This doesn't have to be hard," said one of them, just audible over the howling wind.

I was too afraid to speak, but not too afraid to move.

I fell on one of them, weight augmented by the three-foot drop, and stomped down hard on his sword hand. The other one - who hadn't been trusting enough of his partner to stand very close - lunged for me. I scrabbled for the fallen sword, swinging it with the flat of the blade turned to hit. This was different than the wolf, I realized. These were people! I stumbled backwards. The man, still armed, grabbed my wrist. If he bore me to the ground, that'd be it.

I shifted again, so that I was standing behind him - the ghost of his hand felt like a rug burn - and swung the sword like a baseball bat. He wasn't wearing armor, not in the heat, and the ragged sword tore a long, ugly cut in his back. He screamed, and I dropped the sword out of shock.

"This doesn't have to be hard," I repeated, voice thin.

I backed up, grasping numbly for the hilt of a dagger.

He swung around, blade bared. He was trying to skewer me - but I was just faster, and all he managed was to scrape along my shoulder. The one I had fallen on still wasn't moving - he was motionless in the sand. Had I knocked him out? Killed him?

I'd taken self-defense classes, once upon a time. 

'If you're being attacked,' the woman had told me, 'you have to fight back with everything you've got. If they're willing to hurt you, you can't go halfway and hope that they'll change their mind. If you're afraid, hold onto that feeling. When a guy's got a knife or a gun or your arm twisted behind your back, you're not two people anymore. You're predator and prey. And it sounds cold, I know, but you can't let yourself be prey.'

I'd cold-cocked a guy with an axe handle, once. He'd climbed in through the first-story window of my college dorm room.

This was almost the same.

The dagger was more natural in my hand than the sword. I shifted, reversed my grip and plunged it with all I had into the meat of the man's deltoid. I was aiming for the neck - after all, it'd worked once - but I was too short, and he was moving in the wrong direction. But seven inches of steel hurts pretty bad, regardless of where you put it, and I held on as he jerked away from me. I could hear the blade tear through muscle and sinew - and a horrible, wet sucking sound as the dagger came free, blood splattering in the sand.

He fell over. He was still breathing, but he was losing a lot of blood. If he wasn't dead yet, he would be soon.

I made a frantic, chilly calculation, and took the purses, weapons, and mostly-full waterskins from both bodies. And then I went on.

I had just killed someone. I hadn't done it outright, not on purpose, but I'd left them there and taken their water. That was a death sentence, one way or the other. That was something that always bothered me about RPGs. Was that supposed to feel all right? Yes, they'd come at me, but maybe I could have reasoned with them. Or I could have at least left them water. It was too late to go back - or maybe I told myself that, as an excuse.

There was no one here to judge me but me. And I was awfully critical.

I slept a few hours in the night, curled in my coat like a pillbug, and woke up face-to-face with a snake the thickness of my arm. We frightened each other off, although I started to notice more and more like it, just hidden in the sand. There were scorpions, too, some the size of cats, others larger than I was. I _hated_ the way they scuttled. They were so fast, too, and moved over the surface of the dunes like hovercraft. I had a general idea of how to kill snakes, but there were just too many moving parts on a scorpion.

I kept mistaking distant mirages for Triet. By the time I saw the real thing, it was getting dark, and I had to leg it to make it to the city walls by sundown.

Triet was much larger than I expected. Adobe houses, pale gold and angular, climbed into geometric terraces over narrow dirt streets lined with stalls and tents. Drifting sand made the buildings look as if they had sprouted out of the dunes like trees. Yellow-green palm leaves spread like umbrellas over the little avenues. Cacti, bulbous and pale with spines, protruded from clay pots and window sills. Some were flowering, and some were flocked in miniature birds, each one smaller than a ping-pong ball, so that they seemed to be teeming with multicolored blooms.

There were skinny dogs resting in the shade of buildings, cats on fences and rooftops, and people everywhere, dressed in shawls and turbans and loose, airy linens. 

There was only one inn, in the center of town, half submerged into the sandstone. Beside the stairwell was an enormous bulletin board covered in hand-drawn advertisements and notices - animals for sale and jobs that needed doing. Over all of that someone had pasted two enormous wanted posters. They had been printed on a press, and in color - one was for Lloyd Irving, wanted on Desian business. The other -

The other one was for me.

It wasn't a flattering likeness, but it was clearly _me_. The mint green hair, the hooded coat, the button nose and scar on the chin. I'd crashed my bike, really, but on the poster it made me look hardened and dangerous. I stood in front of it for too long, staring dumbly at my own picture. Why would I be wanted by Desians? I'd only just gotten here!

There was enough money between the highwaymen's purses to pay for a meal and a night's rest, or a new cloak, but not both. After a moment, I tore down the poster with my face on it and wedged it into the pocket of my coat, and hurried away, gathering my hair at the top of my head in a bun and shrugging out of the coat, tying it around my waist. Little things like that could throw people off, couldn't they? It would have to do.

The inn had copper wash tubs and hot water, if you were willing to wait for a kettle to boil.

I studied the wanted poster while I air-dried, seated naked on the end of the bed. 

They didn't say what I was wanted for, or if there was a reward. I supposed Desians didn't give rewards, only spared you a bit of punishment for your trouble. And there was the other thing! Was I wanted by the Desians, or the Renegades? It'd been so long that I could hardly separate the two in my head. The Renegades had been Yuan's thing hadn't it? He had wanted to... do something with the Great Seed. I remembered that, at least, and how it had ended up destroying Palmacosta.

I crumpled the poster and stuffed it underneath the bed. I could worry about that sort of thing later.

I needed to find Colette. I couldn't be far, not if Lloyd's wanted poster was already up. Had they passed me on the road? Kratos probably knew backroads and shortcuts that kept away from well-trodden paths, and they would be moving carefully. 

It would wait until morning.

* * *

They'd been here already. I knew because someone had set up a twine barricade around a hole in the side of their adobe shopfront - not quite person shaped, but unusual, at least - and was selling away bits of the brickwork on account that the Chosen herself had knocked them in. _At least they're making the best of it_ , I thought. I had turned down an offer of just 300 gald for a quarter-sized lump of clay. _I guess that's all you really_ can _do._

I sold the few things I'd gotten off the bandit, probably for less than they were worth, but it was enough to buy food and a few gel jars. 

They were palm-sized, made of metal and glass, and reminded me of cosmetics pots. I'd always assumed you _ate_ gels - why else would they have food names? But an adventurous tasting told me that this was something you put on your body, not in it, unless you wanted the runs. The fruit scent barely concealed the odor of something skunky and medicinal, a back-of-your-throat smell that cleared out the nostrils. It was familiar, but I couldn't place it.

I ended up selling one of the smaller daggers - an ornamental one, with enamel and what I thought might be silver - to buy a mess set and another tinderbox, on the condition that the smith show me how you were actually supposed to _use_ a flint and steel. I knew how to start a fire with a string and stick - the bow method - and with matches, but I'd never had any reason to use a flint and steel.

"I've seen you before," said the smith, in a thoughtful kind of way, as I was packing up again.

"I have one of those faces," I said, smiling.

He made a noncommittal noise and a grimace. "I guess so."

I moved on.

In what felt like no time at all, the sun was setting again and I'd managed to circumnavigate Triet four times without seeing the hide nor hair of Colette's party. It couldn't be that difficult! Her chaperones wore purple and orange, for chrissakes, and Colette had to be the only blonde in town. But no matter where I looked - the fresh market, the hawker's alley, the oasis - I couldn't find them. I had to find them before they left the desert, or I'd be stranded. Out of sync. 

And then, just out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of red.

I hurried after it, hands white-knuckled on the straps of my backpack, eyes wide and searching. I'd seen him! I knew it had to be him! No one else wore so much red.

"Miss?" 

I turned on instinct.

"That's her," said one, face hidden under his shiny steel helmet. 

"Oh, come on!" I protested, just as another rounded the corner, baton held aloft.

I heard the stun gun before it hit me. And then I was gone.


	2. Seal of Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hot diggity dog, it's hot dogs.

"Hhhhrghh."

I levered myself up, ears ringing, and tried to remember where I was. I'd been in Triet, looking for Colette, and then... My stomach lurched, but this bedside didn't come with a bucket and a nice girl with a damp towel. The cot was bare, suspended by a chain from the wall. There was a low lidded box that had to be a toilet, and that was it. The bars were each as thick as my forearm with about as much space between them.

They'd taken everything but my tunic and leggings. I didn't even have my shoes.

"Hey, are you awake?" It was a stage whisper.

"Hello?" I stood, trying to press myself against the bars and see out into the hall. The floors were featureless linoleum, the walls reinforced steel and the lights overhead greenish and unpleasant. There were a few black hemispheres that must have been security cameras, but no sign of any guards.

"Do you know what this place is?"

I hesitated. "Desian ranch," I said. "Who are you?"

"You tell me your name and I'll tell you mine," said Lloyd.

"It's Edie. Do you know how to get out of here?"

"I dunno. I saw you get thrown in. I'm Lloyd, by the way."

I considered this. "I might be able to get past the bars," I said. 

I tried. A moment later I was on the ground. It was like being winded and having heat-stroke all at once. "Are you okay?" I struggled back into a sitting position, the bars just holding me up. I had a throbbing pain over my left eye - I'd probably headbutted the wall in the attempt. I groaned.

"Yeah," I said, "mana sickness."

"Oh." Lloyd paused. "Oh! Wait, I think I can hit the button from here. If I stand..."

There was a tiny sound, like someone had struck a very small triangle, and a flash of orange light. Then there was a click, a whirr, and the sound of a magnetic lock disengaging. A moment later, Lloyd came around the front of my cell. He was gangly, with wide shoulders he hadn't grown into and baby fat in his cheeks. His hair was an Einsteinian mess. He gave the apparatus on my door a thoughtful frown and then, suddenly, my cell was open. He grinned. "That was pretty easy. There are guys coming in and out of here, though, so we should hurry."

"Why'd you let me out?" I wondered, following him at a jog. Our things had been tossed in plastic tubs near a kind of warden's kiosk, currently deserted. "You could have just gone.."

"Aren't we in the same boat?" Lloyd said, with absolute sincerity, "I couldn't just leave you."

"You don't know me," I pointed out, hopping in place to get my other boot on. "I could be a horrible person."

"I don't think the Desians would put you in a cell if you were a horrible person," said Lloyd, nose wrinkling for a second while he buckled a sword in place, "Anyway, you don't look like a mean person. Are you an elf?"

"Half-elf," I said. 

"Oh," said Lloyd, then shrugged, "well, we'd better get going. Those guys said we were gonna be executed. Oh, here," he pressed an orange gel into my hand. "That helps with mana sickness, I think?" 

"Oh! Thanks, man. One second." I swiped a dollop of gel across my collar bones, smoothing some of it up my neck and down my arms. The effect was immediate. The feverish, fainting feeling disappeared as the gel worked, a cold, energizing burn like menthol spreading first from my shoulders and then sinking down to my bones. I flexed my hands."Okay," I said, pulling my hood up and into place, "I'm ready."

We managed to make it down the corridor before running into a Renegade. He was flanked by two cybits like a shark by remora, hand already on the hilt of his sword. 

"You!"

"Us," I said, feeling - bizarrely - like a kid caught with the cookie jar.

Those highwaymen hadn't prepared me for this. The Renegades were soldiers, and they knew how to fight. The cybits, each the size of a manhole cover, swarmed and discharged bolts of energy that felt a lot like being hit with a ball of needles. But if there was anything working to my advantage, it was a complete lack of sportsmanship or theater. Most things break when the whole weight of a human body falls straight down on top.

Lloyd gave the Renegade, lying face-down and unmoving, a little nudge with his boot. Then he caught my eye, and the two of us grimaced.

I hadn't yet come to terms with the idea of killing. I'd shoved all my horror and disgust way down deep for some later time -when killing and being killed turned back into a philosophical concept, rather than a danger of the everyday. There was a kind of undeniable animal insanity that took over when your life was on the line, and when you came back to yourself, in safety and silence, you couldn't help but be ashamed of it. Especially when there was someone else looking back at you, stewing in their own discomfort.

The overhead lights flashed red, and a siren whooped.

"Uh-oh."

"Come on," said Lloyd.

We ran.

The base was huge. It shouldn't have surprised me, after Triet, but it did. It was a maze of identical corridors and locked rooms, punctuated at every turn by some bit of bizarre magitechnology. I could get lost in a one-room apartment, so it was lucky that Lloyd had a sense of direction. He also had the Sorcerer's Ring - which up close looked like a brass band inlaid with a miniscule LED screen. Some of the Renegades had them too, in a different model.

"I thought this was supposed to be one of a kind," Lloyd said, bemused.

"I think they're like keys. Or not keys, but... Tools?" 

He tossed me the spare. "They're pretty useful, anyway."

"Hey!"

We were more or less at a three-way intersection, moving north - to a door that had just discharged at least a dozen armed men. I yelped - because one or two guys was one thing, but twelve? - and Lloyd grabbed my arm. "Come on!" He dragged me into a sprint, and we rounded another corner like racers gunning it on a hairpin curve, flew up two staircases, and made a hard right - it was an unassuming little door. Perfect for escaping into.

"I think we lost them," said Lloyd, while I stared down at the ornate aubergine carpet.

"And who the hell are you?"

We wheeled around, weapons already drawn. 

Yuan was tall, lean, with a narrow face and fine features. His hair, a dark turquoise, fell over one shoulder like a small waterfall. One long-fingered hand was held aloft, crackling with purple-white energy. The smell of ozone rolled off of him, and some sixth reacted to the magic the way a deer reacts to an oncoming car. That baseball-sized ball of static, I suspected, had the stopping power of a small bomb.

He looked utterly unimpressed. If two armed strangers had raced into my office, I'd at least have the decency to look surprised.

Lloyd, counter to all logic, relaxed. "Give me your name, and I'll give you mine."

Yuan laughed, a dimple quirking in his cheek. "Well, you certainly have guts. But I'm afraid I don't feel the need to introduce myself to miserable little creatures like you."

"What a coincidence," Lloyd's smile turned sideways, "because I don't see a need to introduce myself either to a moron who doesn't realize how pathetic he is!"

Teens could be so cruel.

Yuan's face twisted into something like real outrage - "Why you little-" his eyes caught on Lloyd's hand, raised in mute defense. The clattering ball of light disappeared. "An Exsph- you're Lloyd?"

"And if I am?"

Yuan stepped forward. Lloyd stepped slightly backwards and knocked into me. I squeaked.

Yuan appeared to notice me for the first time. His eyes narrowed, and for a split second his mouth curled in discomfort or disgust. "You-" he began, and then was interrupted by a screaming klaxon. Lloyd took advantage of the distraction, sword arcing out towards Yuan. Yuan, without any kind of urgency, shifted slightly to the right, and Lloyd nearly stumbled as the momentum made him overbalance. 

The door opened behind us. Botta rushed in, flanked by four other soldiers.

"Sir, the Chosen's party has infiltrated the facility," he said, sparing us a glance.

"You!" Lloyd burst out, "you're the Desian who attacked Iselia!"

Botta looked askance at us, then smiled. "So _you're_ Lloyd. This is amusing."

"Botta, I'm leaving now," said Yuan, drawing his cloak around both shoulders, "everything will be ruined if he sees me." He gave a thin little smile. "I'll leave the Chosen to you." He made for the opposite door - then turned. "Lloyd, next time we meet, you're _mine_." And then he was gone.

Botta turned to us. "Well, then," he said, hefting a truly enormous greatsword in one hand, "let's settle this."

And then the others burst in through the door we had used, suddenly turning Botta's advantage around on him. There was Genis, small and pale, Colette, in white, Kratos and Raine both with weapons drawn. They were real people, of course, but so exceptionally _themselves_ that for a second I felt starstruck. "Lloyd," cried Genis, "are you okay?"

"Perfect timing," Botta said, "I'll take care of everyone at once."

It was good that Renegades wore uniforms, or I might have ended up on the end of Kratos' sword. As it was, Lloyd and I fought with the familiarity of two people who had made their way through the better part of a military base together, and the others took their cues from him. It was six against five, and stacked in our favor. 

I'd thought Lloyd was pretty good with a sword, up until I saw Kratos.

Kratos disarmed him. Botta, put on the defensive, had to retreat. A good thing, because I had an arm full of stone shrapnel and Genis had a head wound that was beginning to stain his jumpsuit. 

"I'm fine," he insisted, as Raine peeled back his hair to inspect it.

"Everyone okay?" asked Lloyd, panting.

"We can talk once we're outside," said Kratos, as Genis wriggled free and plucked a glowing lump of glass and metal off the carpet. 

"And who's this?" Raine asked, squinting at me.

"Hi, I'm Edie," I said, feeling stupid.

"She helped me escape," said Lloyd, grinning. 

"Speaking of escaping," prompted Genis, "come on!"

* * *

Inn rooms are a lot cheaper when you split the cost.

"Thanks," I said, dropping down on the floor while Raine unloaded her pack, hunting for a medical kit. Colette was seated primly on the edge of one bed, while Lloyd reenacted the encounter with Yuan for her and Genis. Genis was no longer bleeding, but the matted patch of his hair was grisly to look at. Kratos stood near the window, arms crossed. 

Lloyd had told everyone the story of our escape, and flat-out refused to leave me to my own devices. "She's hurt, too, Professor, and as long as we're in Triet it's not really safe for her to be alone." 

"Oh, it'll be fun!" said Colette, "like a slumber party!"

That had been about fifteen minutes ago. Raine was cleaning Genis' face as best she could and I was picking fragments of stone out of my arm. They were barely larger than splinters, and the punctures seemed to disappear the moment they were removed. There was a green bruise spreading over my bicep and forearm, pinpricks of purple near points of impact and yellow spots as it faded into my skin. It was sore, but that was all.

"May I see?" Raine had finished with Genis.

"Sure. I think it'll heal up fine, though."

"Hmm." Raine turned my arm over, looking thoughtful. "You have an Exsphere, too. I suppose accelerated healing is part of the effect. But you're seriously mana-depleted," she went on, "so I would still suggest ointment and rest."

"Thanks," I said, giving her a lopsided smile and rolling my sleeve back down. There wasn't much chance of getting the stain out, now. By next week my tunic would be a nice red-brown. "You're Raine, then? Why do they call you the Professor?"

"I taught at the schoolhouse in Iselia," she said. "If I may ask, how did you end up at the Ranch?" It took me a second to follow her down the turn in the conversation.

"They caught me here," I admitted, "on the west side of town. I don't think they'll bother us again for a while, though."

"And why is that?" 

"They were already wasting time and resources looking for us, and then they couldn't even hold us for twenty-four hours? They're not going to sink more man-hours into an embarrassment like that, if they're smart." 

"That's very... analytical of you," Raine said. 

"Why _are_ Desians after you, anyway?" said Lloyd, finally drawn out of his storytelling as the group began to coalesce into a circle. "You never said."

"Genuinely no idea," I said, "the guy in charge seemed to know me, but I didn't know him."

"No idea?" repeated Kratos, skeptically. "It's rare to see a half-elf in trouble with Desians, but I've heard they're harsh with defectors. It would explain your training."

"Hey, f - eff off, I'm not a Desian and I never have been. I _am_ a half-elf, thanks for pointing it out, but I'm a researcher. Stars." I was going to have to ask around for lore-appropriate curses, because I was already running out of expletives. "I don't know why the Desians are after me. Probably," I waved a hand, "because they're n - fascists." I sighed, trying to ride the sudden wave of anger. "Sorry. I'm still a bit on edge."

"Just because she's a half-elf doesn't mean she's a Desian," Lloyd added, frowning hard at Kratos. "You don't have to be a jerk about it."

"I think we're all tired," Raine interrupted. "We should all bathe while we have the chance. We can talk about our next moves later."

The boys departed.

"Sorry," said Colette, "I think Mr. Kratos is just worried about us."

"I'm sure he is," said Raine, dryly. "Colette, why don't you go first? I'd like to speak to Edie alone." Colette obliged. I occupied myself with my rucksack, figuring out what had been taken and organizing what was left. My daggers would need cleaning and oiling, too, or they'd rust. The thought passed through my head so naturally that I didn't have time to wonder where it'd come from - or if I had always known how to clean blades. _Training_ , Kratos had said.

"Thanks," I said, "I was losing my temper."

"Kratos has reason to be suspicious," Raine said, "it _is_ his job. But he could have been more... delicate." She started busying herself, too, so that we could both enjoy the illusion that this was all casual conversation. "What is it you research? You'll have to forgive me, but you don't look much like a scholar."

This, at least, I'd had time to prepare for.

I chuckled. "No, I understand. No, I'm not associated with any schools or institutions, if that's what you mean. Let's call it a passion project," I said, fishing for a whetstone as I spoke, "I'm interested in Regeneration. The whole thing, I mean. Our knowledge of the whole process is so fragmented, which is strange considering how long we've been going at it. The Seals are our most concrete ties to this impossibly mythic past. I didn't expect I'd actually meet the Chosen."

Raine's expression had changed from one of cautious inquiry to something just on the edge of manic.

"It's remarkable, isn't it? So little of the Ancient world has survived, save what has been preserved by the Church."

"I think it's remarkable the Church has survived at all," I admitted, "eight hundred years of declination is pretty long, and it's not like the Church can muster a standing army. You have to wonder how it's kept up."

"There's speculation that 'holy' sites are warded against Desians by extremely complex magitechnology. Most of what survives from before the Ancient War is so beyond our current level of technology that it's unlikely we'd recognize evidence even if we found it. And the blending of technical languages with liturgical metaphor just further obscures the past."

I had a natural talent for pretending to be an expert in things, as long as it didn't involve too much math. 

It helped that I had an inside track on all of Sylvarant's big secrets. I could conjecture as wildly as I wanted, so long as it stayed inside the boundaries of what I knew was fact. This was a world of cowboy academia - I could get away with almost anything, so long as I wasn't greedy.

"I'd love to see one of the sites up close," I said, finally, "and I'd like the opportunity to repay you for saving my life. But I understand if it's not an option."

Raine paused, torn between academic enthusiasm and natural caution. "We can discuss it later. I'm sure everyone would appreciate another set of hands."

Then it was time for Raine to bathe, and I was left alone with Colette. But making conversation with Colette was much easier.

"Did you see that dog outside? They had this little white spot just above their nose..."

"I know! Wasn't it precious? Oh, oh, there's this big one near the oasis, you have to see it!"

Genis was cooking in the hearth when I returned from the baths. He and Lloyd were much cleaner than they had been an hour earlier, drying out in their shirtsleeves. Kratos stood stiffly aside while Raine and Colette hung out their own laundry to air. I only had the one set of clothes, excepting underpants, so I had to resign myself to my own stink. I'd have to pick up another set, but money was money, and I'd rather stink than starve.

"Hey!" Lloyd grinned, "The Professor says you might come with us tomorrow?"

"If you'll have me," I said. "But it's Colette's show. You shouldn't feel pressured," I told her, "I'm happy to help, but I understand you've gotta trust the people you're with."

Colette shook her head. "If Lloyd trusts you, then I trust you! Besides, isn't it better to have more people?"

"The trial may be dangerous," Kratos warned me, "neither I nor Raine can account for your safety. The Chosen is our first priority." He glanced at Lloyd, as if in warning. Lloyd rolled his eyes.

"I can look after myself," I said, almost sure that it was true. The last week had felt longer than the last five years put together, and I'd survived this long. 

"I admit, it would make me feel better to have another adult around," said Raine, "if only for a while." Kratos nodded reluctantly. 

"Then it's settled," Lloyd said, "Edie can come with us!"

* * *

"Ugh, it's _hot!_ "

"We've only been walking a few hours," Kratos said, "this isn't a vacation."

Lloyd groaned.

"It's kind of beautiful," I said, admiring the distant sandstone bluffs and the red-orange gleam of the sand sea. "It's interesting that Triet is that big that far out in the desert. You'd think any settlements would be on the coast."

"There used to be a river system," said Raine, "much of Triet's infrastructure relies on trade routes from hundreds of years ago. Triet used to be much larger, too, occupying a river valley that crossed the continent south to north. Goods would travel from Palmacosta, around the southern peninsula and up to Aman Bay."

"I wonder if it'll be like that again some day," said Genis, "once the world is regenerated and everything."

"Perhaps," Raine said, "it's said that after Spiritua regenerated the world, arid soil became fertile, and areas that had experienced drought for years had sudden rainfall."

"Really?" I asked, bemused. "Is that an effect of mana, then?"

Raine nodded. "Natural processes slow without mana. The microbes and decomposers that renew the soil die off, and every crop cycle strips the earth of nutrients needed for plant growth. Fields can go fallow in only a few years, even with care and attention. It's no wonder so many communities rely on wild vegetables and fishing. Most of the produce sold in Triet comes from undomesticated plants or small household plots."

"That's fascinating."

"Is it?" groaned Lloyd.

"Where does all the bread come from, then?" I asked, ignoring him.

"There are still considerable wheat fields farther north. Most of Iselia's livelihood is in grain and potatoes. A great deal of it is exported south to Triet. It's quite a markup, though," she said, gesturing backwards in the general direction of Triet, "90 gald a loaf would be highway robbery in Iselia."

"It's nice to be able to try food from all over," said Colette. "I'd never had hot peppers before now!"

"Where are you from, anyway?" Genis asked me. I'd expected it sooner or later.

"Near Asgard," I said, "it's not around anymore, I'm afraid to say."

That made Genis' face fall. "Oh. We're kind of similar, then."

I blinked. "I guess so."

It would take two full days to get to the Triet Ruins. We might have traveled faster, but we were stopped at intervals by vicious winds that whipped sand into the air hard enough to scrape skin. We camped wherever there was shelter, and waited out the night in shifts. Kratos, who mostly lurked behind the group like an aubergine shadow, took time out of his busy schedule to show us shield spells. 

"Even you should be able to do it," he said to Lloyd, "try again."

Magic, in my limited experience, was about imagining something so hard that it tipped over into reality. I had no idea how Raine and Genis worked their magic, which seemed to be all about arcane thaumaturgical formulas and sacred geometries. It was still the same mana behind those spells as behind melee techniques - a physical movement augmented by a controlled burst of mana - but it felt different. When Raine or Genis did magic, the mana metamorphosed in the air, like water turning into vapor under the application of heat.

"Mana in the body is unaspected," Genis tried to explain, "like how white light contains the whole rainbow. You can use it like that, sure, but you can also separate it into the different elemental forms, and that makes it way easier to turn that mana into something physical, because it's closer to existing as matter. That's how I can make fireballs or water! The mana already has all the building blocks there, it's just about arranging them in the right way. Raine's spells are more complicated, though," he admitted, "because it's about altering the mana in _another_ person's body by using your own. It's really easy to get wrong."

"Huh," I said, trying to think of something to say to disguise how little I understood. "Does it feel different using an exsphere?"

Genis considered this.

"Yeah. It's like the exsphere multiplies any mana you put into the spell, so it's way stronger. And your body recovers its natural mana more quickly, too, so you're less likely to get mana sickness."

"You must have been studying this for a long time."

"Yeah! Raine's been teaching me forever, but I've learned a lot from books, too," Genis puffed out his chest, "I'm a lot more advanced than most people my age."

I grinned. "And people twice your age."

"You can't use Lloyd as a baseline," Genis joked, "he's more like people half my age."

"Heyyy," Lloyd protested, on principal. Kratos thwacked him in the arm with one dummy sword. "Ow!"

"Pay attention," Kratos scolded.

* * *

We reached the ruin entrance the morning of the third day.

"Noishe!" Lloyd yelped, as the not-dog nearly knocked him over in his attempt to flee the vicinity. 

"He can smell the monsters," said Genis, shaking his head. "He'll be gone all day."

"It would be best not to count on Noishe in places with monsters around," said Kratos, dry as the desert.

The ruin was a sprawling dark shape on the sand, pillars emerging here and there like crooked teeth, each one taller than any building in Triet. Car-sized pieces of rubble punctuated the dunes, dark grey stone laid with garlands of yellow and orange. The main body of the ruin lay in pieces, the remains of some ancient Parthenon, the canopy lost to time and the steps worn smooth.

It looked as if generations of prospective temple-robbers had tried to force their way into the entrance. The stone aperture was chipped and scraped away in a thousand different places, but the door itself was smooth and undamaged. If people had taken picks and hammers to it, you couldn't tell. It was emblazoned with the design of a figure eight enclosed in a winged circle, set further into a triangle. 

Just beside the entrance was a podium, made of paler stone than the rest. Like the door, it looked untouched by time.

"Is this the seal?" wondered Colette, "it has my family's crest on it."

Raine burst into helpless giggles. 

Even I couldn't help but look.

"This is _fantastic!_ This slab is clearly a different composition than the surrounding stone - it's just as I thought! This is polycarbonate, developed during the ancient war to defend against magic! Ohhh, feel the smooth surface," she was on her hands and knees, caressing the door like Casanova would a lover, "it's wondrous!" She pressed her cheek onto the stone and made a sound of complete and utter _euphoria._

"Wow," I said.

"Is she always like this?" asked Kratos, unnerved.

Raine bolted up, still in her manic trance, and pushed Lloyd aside to inspect the podium. She was flushed and wild-eyed.

"Is she?" Lloyd asked.

Genis groaned. "I've been trying so hard to hide it, too."

"Nothing wrong with a little professional enthusiasm," I said doubtfully.

"This depression reads 'oracle stone'," Raine said suddenly, reaching over and bodily dragging Colette towards the podium, "Colette, place your hand here," she ordered, as if she was not already puppeteering Colette's arm in the right direction, "That should reveal the entrance." Colette, bewildered, let the Professor steer her into place. "This stone is enchanted with magic designed to identify the Chosen. There's no question about it."

Colette's hand made contact with a sound like distant chimes.

The earth shuddered, and after a moment, the door slid back, revealing a staircase descending into warm darkness.

"It opened! I guess I'm really the Chosen after all," said Colette, hands clasped in delight.

"Yes, I think we all know that already," said Genis, patiently.

"All right, this is getting exciting," cheered Lloyd, "I'll go first!"

Kratos sighed.

The temple wasn't so dark after all.

The steps went down, down, down what must have been a dozen stories, all in near-blackness, until we stepped through an archway and into a wide, glowing avenue - the temple proper. Light spilled in from gutters to either side of the passageway, pillars almost obscured by the heat haze. It was a different quality of heat than outside - this was enveloping, pressing heat. 

"Is that lava?" asked Genis, incredulous.

"It's radiating mana," said Raine, thoughtful, "I doubt it's as hot as volcanic magma, but I'd be careful regardless."

Theoretically easy - harder to do in the middle of a scrap.

It was like we'd disturbed a wasp's nest. The place was swarming with monsters, mundane and magical. Enormous, fire-red scorpions dropped from the ceiling - massive glowing golems emerged from pits of light. Hemispheres of brick-colored stone hovered in the air, surrounded by interlocking bands of glowing runes, and flaming birds seemed to spark out of nothingness.

"It's a puzzle," said Genis, "just like the other temple."

"I wonder," said Raine, then cut herself off. 

"Hey, I bet we can light those," said Lloyd, squinting at an empty brazier. "That's weird, isn't it? You wouldn't need those in a room like this."

"There aren't any candles," said Genis doubtfully, leaning over to see inside. "I could throw a fireball but it wouldn't have anything to catch."

"There's mana there," Raine frowned. 

"Oh!" Lloyd said, fumbling to remove his glove. "I have an idea!"

"You never put that back?" Genis said, voice strained.

Lloyd aimed his hand in the direction of the brazier - the sorcerer's ring belched a line of fire, and the brazier ignited. Not far away, a platform shuddered and rose into place, stone scraping against stone. "Ha, see?"

"I wonder if it's integral to all the seals," said Raine, frowning.

"Wow! You figured it out, Lloyd!" Colette beamed. Lloyd preened.

"We should keep moving," said Kratos.

There really were blocks to push, although most the trial seemed predicated on the difficulty of fighting monsters on the narrow walkways. Colette always seemed just on the verge of falling over the edge, so that Kratos and Lloyd hovered around her like goalies ready to block a wayward puck. It would have been funny if it weren't so stressful. 

Burns _hurt_.

Finally, _finally_ , we reached the highest platform. The staircases were a maze of dead ends and obstructions, built in such a way that it was almost impossible to see where one went until you were at the end of it. The pinnacle was a broad dais, and in the middle of that was a warp pad.

It was bizarre to look at, because everything else was dark stone. The outer ring of the pad was like blue fiberglass, and the internal apparatus looked like it was made of stainless steel and gold. The 'warp' was a disc of glowing blue light, suspended about an inch off the ground. You could _see_ the stone floor through it, but at the same time it seemed to cover a sheer drop. It made my eyes water to look at. The others stopped too, drawing the same conclusion - _this was it_. Any moment now and we'd be standing in audience with an angel.

"I've never done one of these before," I told Raine, frowning at the warp.

"It's perfectly safe," she said, "they're quite common in ruins, although they're rarely functional. There's a working one in the Martel Temple near Iselia."

"You just step into it," Genis reassured me, "it's fine."

"Is everyone ready?" asked Kratos, "There may be a final trial before this is over."

"I'm ready," said Colette, face a mask of determination. Her eyes quivered.

 _She's sixteen_ , I remembered, _and she's walking towards death_.

We stepped onto the warp, and the next moment we were in the altar room. The domed ceiling was shining with gold leaf and ringed in blue tiling. Geometric patterns flowered out from the tops of columns and illuminated the space behind the altar in yellow-orange light. The altar itself, like the warp, was out of place. The room itself was reverent, a monument of faith, and the altar was very clearly a machine.

The red light, lying like a pool inside the altar, began to shimmer.

"Aagh!" yelped Genis, scrambling backwards.

"Get ready!"

The Ktugatch and its broodlings coalesced out of the light, each Ktugachling bigger than a grown man and the mother nearly as long as a bus. Every inch of her crackled with fire that she didn't seem to feel, and her mouth was a horror show of yellowed fangs and dripping purple drool. I did the sensible thing, and went for the little ones first.

The altar room wasn't huge. It was like having a bar brawl in a broom closet. The Ktugach' tail swiped through empty spaces, aflame and bristling with spines, and the little ones hovered just out of reach, conjuring fireballs nearly as tall as I was. 

"Genis!"

There was a screech - Raine was running to the other side of the room, while the blur of red that was Lloyd came down on the Ktugatch like a hammer. I wrenched my blade free of the hatchling just as it exploded into white light, and saw a chakram whizz upwards through what was left of its mother. The Ktugatch was gone, the Ktugatchlings slain - and the room was suddenly quiet and dark except for echoes.

Genis wasn't moving.

"It's okay," Raine was telling a grey-faced Colette, "just wait."

She pulled Genis' head onto her lap, fished in her pocket, and drew out a phial filled with soft silver light. She tipped it into Genis' mouth, and for a moment, I thought I saw something glow beneath his skin. Then he shot up, eyes wide, headbutting Colette on the way there. She fell back, hands over her forehead but face split in a watery grin. "You're okay!"

"He was just unconscious," said Raine, quietly, "be more careful. Life bottles are expensive."

"What are they?" I wondered, wiping a dagger on my pant leg. "I've never seen one."

"Almost pure mana," said Raine, still in hushed tones.

"The altar!" Lloyd drew our attention back to the matter at hand - there was a sound like an air brake, and a ring, on several thin rails, extended up as if on pneumatics. It lifted almost to the height of the chamber before dropping down again in a shaft of orange light. I had no idea what it was, but when it was gone there was a nucleus of red energy hovering just above the altar, pulsing with heat.

We all heard Remiel's voice. Raine and I startled, but the others had seen this already.

_You, the Chosen of Regeneration. Offer your prayers at the altar._

Colette ascended the steps, looking very small before the seal.

"Oh Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength!"

The nucleus of light disappeared. From an aperture in the golden ceiling, in a shaft of light, appeared Remiel.

He was blandly handsome, blonde, dressed in a white and turquoise robe and tall hat. His wings were enormous, each one as tall as he was, flapping leisurely while his body appeared suspended in thin air, unmoving. Maybe I was biased, but there was an emptiness in his eyes and voice, like someone reading a script they disapproved of.

"Colette, my dear daughter, you have done well."

Colette's shoulders stiffened. "Thank you, f..father."

"The guardian of the seal has fallen, and the first seal has been released. Efreet will surely awaken soon." He smiled down at her, expression vacant. "In the name of Cruxis, I shall grant you the power of the angels." 

As he spoke, motes of golden light gathered around him, for a moment illuminating his head like a halo, before curling down and down until they passed into Colette. For a split second, Colette seemed made of light, a creature made of sunlight. Then the effect faded, and she became herself again, only for shimmering, transparent wings to unfurl from her shoulders like blooming flowers. They shone, dropping pinpricks of dust like tiny stars, and Colette rose, borne into the air nearly level with Remiel.

"The angel transformation will not be without pain," said Remiel, expression unchanged, "yet it is but for one night. Be strong and endure."

"I humbly accept this trial."

"The next seal lies far to the east, across the sea. Offer your prayers at that altar."

"Yes, Lord Remiel."

Remiel smiled again, and disappeared in a burst of ghostly golden feathers.

 _I shall await you at the next seal, the Chosen of Regeneration, my beloved daughter, Colette_.

Colette drifted slowly back down, looking dazed.

"Colette has _wings!_ " Lloyd said, nearly breathless.

Colette turned, smile suddenly too bright. "Uh-huh," she said, "and look, I can put them away, too."

"Wooow! That's so cool," cried Genis.

Colette laughed, a high, clear sound, and she and Genis spun in circles, wings leaving a trail of shining dust in their wake as Genis laughed, too. For a moment it seemed impossible that just minutes ago they had been fighting for their lives. In that moment, they were only children, delighted in the magic of the world. Lloyd, who was just old enough to pretend not to be impressed, turned to the rest of us. 

"He said the next place is across the sea," said Lloyd, "that means we get to sail on a ship!" He grinned. "I can't wait!"

"A ship," mused Raine, "I wonder if there are any ships sailing with the way things are right now."

"We should head to the coast to see what we can find," advised Kratos.

"Okay, you two, we get it already," laughed Lloyd, turning to Genis and Colette, still in their little orbit, "that's enough." Colette's wings disappeared, and bits of stardust evaporated into nothingness.


	3. Ossa Trail, Izoold

Colette made it to the entrance before collapsing.

There was no chance of getting her back to the city tonight, even on Noishe. Her face was grey and her lips were bloodless. Kratos made the call to set up camp, and we settled in the shadow of the ruin. Soon it was dark, and there was a fire burning. We were a little island of warmth in a sea of black, casting long shadows as we crowded around the campfire. Genis cooked for us, and Kratos and Noishe sat up, taking watch.

Colette looked much better in the morning. I still caught myself looking for that sliver of fear I'd seen at the altar, but I couldn't find it. 

"Where are we going next?" Lloyd asked, when we were once again sequestered at the Triet Inn. We would have to restock on food and water before heading east. 

"We'll head for Palmacosta," said Raine, "I don't think we're going to find much else on this continent. We'll have to be frugal... it may cost us to convince anyone to sail in these conditions." She was in charge of finances, which seemed to be a stressful job. She had a purse from Phaidra, and some money supplied by the Church, but it wasn't much to begin with, and it would have to last a long time. 

We supplemented that mostly by selling monster bits. Kratos showed Lloyd and I how to skin anything that could be skinned, how to pry fangs from the jaws of dead animals, and how to butcher anything that was left. Particularly magical monsters hoarded gold and jewels stolen from a millennia of hapless travelers, like enormous magpies. 

In the temple, there had even been treasure chests - caches of goods left behind as tribute to the Chosen in times when the world was flourishing. I'd ended up in a leather breastplate that had somehow survived eight hundred years underground, and Raine - reluctantly - in an enchanted circlet. Kratos unearthed a sword, miraculously unrusted, and Genis had found a fine silk cloak that seemed impossible to pierce.

"Palmacosta is the biggest city in the world," Genis said, delighted, "The Church of Martel Cathedral is there, and there's a school. I'm sure we'll find _something_ there."

"If we're going to Palmacosta," said Kratos, "we'll have to pass through the Ossa Trail. It's not a treacherous trail, but there's no harm in being prepared. The trail itself may take a week to travel, but we have miles of desert before then. Water should take priority," he declared, "we can hunt if need be." Raine nodded.

"We'll go to the market tomorrow morning and leave the next day. We should rest while we can."

Time passed faster than expected. 

Raine, Genis and Lloyd - a convenient cargo mule - took care of the food, while Kratos and Colette replenished our dwindling medical supplies. There was also the business of replacing or repairing clothes, armor and weapons that had seen better days, and haggling over soap or thread. There were a lot of moving parts to keeping six people alive for weeks at a time, away from civilization. Even Raine seemed overwhelmed by the scale of it. Kratos, of course, handled it like a seasoned general going to war.

My great contribution was in getting another set of clothes. We would all smell bad, eventually, but at least I would smell bad on the same scale as everyone else.

When we set out again, it was with about five hundred pounds of cargo.

I was exaggerating, but not by much.

* * *

You can't walk with someone for a week without getting to know them, at least a little.

* * *

"Your face is gonna stick like that."

"Ugh, shut up," Lloyd groaned, rubbing at the spot between his eyebrows, "you're worse than Genis."

"What are you working on?"

"Homework."

"Woof. I knew Raine was giving you _lessons_ , but homework? You're in the middle of nowhere."

"Tell her that."

"I'm not that brave, sorry."

"How come _you_ don't have to do anything?"

"Homework? I'm an adult. I think Raine and I are the same age."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, Raine's just, you know, tall and mature. Anyway, scoot over, I can help. What is this, algebra?"

"Yeah."

"This stuff is easy. Like this one, you're just solving for x. You just have to... uh. Hm."

"You don't know either!"

"Sure I do! You just... take that off one side... I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"What kind of researcher are you, anyway?!"

* * *

"Are you really a half-elf?" asked Genis.

"Yeah, why?"

"I guess... I've never really met one before. Who isn't a Desian. No offense."

"None taken. I've never met an elf before."

"Y-yeah, I guess th - we're kind of rare."

"I guess I don't know much about them."

"Well, I guess they're kind of reclusive... you know, in the Asgard eddas they're the original inhabitants of the moon and had galleons that sailed on the sky," said Genis, in the tone of someone reciting from a book, "but in the Mana Cycles, they're more like plant spirits. Some fairy tales even say that elves grow like plants in the ground. It's not true, of course, but I guess it's interesting."

"You're very knowledgeable!"

"Oh, w-well, we've always had a lot of books around. Raine's kind of like a collector. But our house..."

"Oh, yeah. That stinks. Hopefully she's able to pick up some new stuff on the trip. Do they have bookshops in Palmacosta?"

"Yeah! There's supposed to be this one so big that people get lost in it for days. And there's gonna be the library at the Academy, but I don't know if we'll be able to see that... Anyway, I'm sure we'll be too busy."

"I dunno, I'm sure we'll check it out. There's a lot we need to figure out. And Raine's got a stare that could boil water. I can't imagine a school turning her away."

"Yeah, she's pretty scary."

* * *

"Edie!"

"Colette!"

"Um, I was wondering, when's your birthday?"

"October 1st, why?"

"But that's next week!"

"Hey, it's okay, I don't really do birthdays! I like celebrating other people's and stuff but I don't really celebrate my own."

"You don't like your birthday?"

"I guess no one likes getting older," I shrugged, "but I guess I just don't like people... you know, looking at me. Agh, that sounded weird."

"That's not weird. I feel really shy sometimes, too."

"You don't have to not look at me, Colette."

"Oh! Sorry!"

"You apologize a lot."

"I'm sorry."

"I used to do it too. Um, you don't have to follow this advice, but I used to say sorry because I felt like I was inconveniencing other people, and then they'd feel bad that I felt bad, so I started saying 'thank you' instead. Like, instead of saying, 'I'm sorry for taking so long', I'd say, 'thanks for being patient with me'. People like being thanked. And it's a reminder that people are happy to do stuff for you, because you're loved. I'm talking too much, aren't I?"

"No, not at all! I guess... I never thought about it like that."

"Well, _thank you_ for listening to me."

"...You really don't want us to do anything for your birthday?"

"I'd like you to do whatever makes you happy. It's nice just to be around you guys."

* * *

"You're humming again," remarked Raine.

"Oh, my bad. You want me to stop?"

"No, it's all right. You seem very comfortable in the wild, for a scholar."

"Do I?"

"Traveling doesn't seem to tax you."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm fine as long as we're moving. It's having nothing to do that makes me antsy. And everything's a lot easier with an exsphere. I don't think I've even got blisters."

"It is an improvement, but I can't say I enjoy the... well. Wilderness."

"Really? I'd have thought exploring would be kind of your thing. The lure of discovery."

"I'd prefer not to _discover_ a snake in my boot every other morning. Not that it isn't fascinating... ah, I'm complaining."

"It's good to complain sometimes. It's healthy."

"That explains Lloyd, I suppose."

* * *

"Where are you going?"

"Uh? Oh, I thought this was the path back." I wandered sheepishly back over to Kratos. He had two bundles of firewood to my one. "It all looks the same to me."

"You should pay more attention to where you're going. It would be easy to get lost in a place like this."

"I could get lost in an empty room."

"Then you should be trying all the harder to make up for the shortcoming. You cannot rely on other people to find the way for you."

"I mean, I can, nine times out of ten. But I take your point."

"You don't take anything seriously," he observed, tone disapproving. "That could get you killed one day."

"Gosh, I hope so. Imagine the alternative."

"..."

"Not too hard, or anything. I'd like to at least make it back to camp."

* * *

We passed the marker for Ossa Trail on a crisp, bright day. The foothills of the Ossa mountains, blanketed with trees, made it impossible to see where we were going except by landmarks. Kratos was a good guide, if you ignored his personality, and everyone was relieved to be out of the searing sun of the desert. Genis struggled a little on the steep inclines, but we made good time, and soon we were deep in the forest.

The trail zig-zagged up the mountain, one way and then another. In some places the road was marked on either edge by rotting logs, and in others there was stonework - evidence that the trail had once seen some development. But most of the road wasn't marked at all, or the markers had been lost a long time ago in fires or mudslides. You'd have to be very determined to take a horse and cart on the Ossa Trail. Determined, and well-armed.

"Stop!"

Half of us did stop, on pure instinct. I looked up.

Sheena landed only a few yards away, the tail of her obi tracing her like the end of a comet. She was a little shorter than I was, and had a gymnast's build. Her hair was knotted on the top of her head - there was a twig in it - and from her waist hung pouches and tags in a dozen colors, dangling like ornaments. She was disarmingly pretty.

"What?" asked Lloyd, brought up short.

"Is she a friend of yours, Lloyd?" asked Colette.

"Not that I'm aware of."

Sheena, momentarily bewildered, gathered herself again. "Is the Chosen of Mana among you?"

"Oh! That's me," volunteered Colette.

To Sheena's credit, she recovered quickly. "Prepare to die!"

Colette yelped, stumbling backwards as Sheena advanced at a dead run - there was a low thunk as she hit the ground. Sheena stepped into thin air, her expression of comic surprise visible for a fraction of a second before she disappeared from sight. After a moment, there was a thump. I edged over to Colette, peering down - there was indeed a trapdoor, obscured on all sides by brush, and beneath Colette's right leg, a very old lever.

"Oh no," she said, crawling to the edge and staring down in despair, "what should I do? I did it again!" It was too dark to see what had happened to Sheena, but the sound of impact hadn't been pleasant.

"You don't need to worry about it," sighed Raine, "if she had not fallen in, you might have been killed."

"But..." Colette looked miserably down into the darkness.

"I guess I do kinda feel sorry for her," admitted Lloyd.

"I hope she's okay," agreed Colette. Raine and Kratos shared a look.

"Even assuming her weight to be forty-five kilograms," said Genis, consolingly, "and this hole to be ten meters deep, and calculating the gravity constant at 9.8, the fall shouldn't have been fatal. She's probably not dead," he clarified, because Colette and Lloyd were looking at him blankly.

"Still, man," groaned Lloyd, "that's some bad luck, standing on top of a trap door."

"It's not a trap," said Raine, leaning over. "It's a hidden maintenance passage for the mountain path. There was probably a wooden ladder here once," she gestured, "but only the mechanism has survived. But, yes... remarkably bad luck. Or in our case, good luck. You two shouldn't be so friendly with strangers."

"We should get moving," said Kratos. 

"Wh- hey, shouldn't we try to find out who that woman is?"

"She'll come after us on her own. This area's too confined and the footing is poor. It would be wise not to linger."

"I think," I said, after a moment, "Colette has very strange luck."

* * *

Sheena did catch up with us, but not until days later, as we neared the other trailhead. 

She emerged from behind a tree, looking much worse for wear. She was covered in soot and dust, and there was a nasty scrape just along her hairline. "W-wait!" 

"Wow, she really did find us," Lloyd said, impressed, but in the way that suggested Sheena would be going above and beyond if she figured out how to tie her own shoes. It wasn't encouraging.

"Oh, thank goodness," said Colette, approaching Sheena like you might approach a wounded animal.

"D-don't move!" Sheena looked terrified - but determined.

"Hang on, we can talk about this," I said, trying for reasonable.

"I won't be caught off guard this time - prepare to die!"

Why, I wondered, as weapons were drawn, would you ever want to _warn_ someone before killing them?

Sheena was good. She was faster than I was, and gave the impression of never quite touching the ground. Her cards seemed to flash by, one color and then another, burning or freezing or delivering a shock that made your skeleton try to vibrate through your skin. Her guardian was huge, birdlike, and suspended on a bladed wheel. Its backside was an enormous, living face, all teeth and furrowed eyebrows, that belched fireballs.

But Sheena was one against six, and unlike most people she knew when to cut and run.

"She's gone," said Lloyd, in amazement, "that was like magic."

Kratos stepped into the space where Sheena had been, sniffing the air. "Explosive powder," he said. "She can't have gone far."

"Why are people trying to kill us?"

"There are always those that reject salvation," replied Kratos, as if it was obvious.

"Maybe she's a Desian," suggested Genis.

"Who knows? At any rate, we're in constant danger. That's all we have to know."

"She looked frightened," I said. 

"We're almost at the trailhead," Kratos continued, as if I hadn't spoken. "We should keep moving."

* * *

Izoold smelled of salt.

The air coming up off the sea was dense, damp and cool, lying low over the landscape where in the mountains it had been thin and distant. In the desert, the air had been either too heavy or barely there at all, and always, always hot. Izoold smelled like home - of seaweed and fish, of damp wood and algae. There was a particular kind of mold that bloomed in crevices and seams, like green-grey mortar, and thick clover growing everywhere that wasn't stone or gravel.

"Now this is living," I grinned, leaning on the barricade that separated the high, rocky ground of the village from the low-lying network of piers and platforms. 

The coastline was irregular, punctuated by huge, dark boulders and thickets of tall, papery grass, so brittle that it cut skin. Here and there along the beachside there were puddles that had once been jellyfish, the decaying bodies of fish, and everywhere clouds of grey-white seabirds, crying and squawking and fighting over refuse.

"It kind of smells," said Lloyd, wrinkling his nose.

"It's great," I insisted. "Do you think they have anywhere open to swimmers?"

"We aren't on vacation," Kratos said. He was beginning to repeat himself. "We should find rooms at the inn and start asking around for passage."

The inn was small and drafty, the wooden floors covered with the grit of sand and the shutters shaking in the breeze. The beds were little more than cots, with thin sheets and hard pillows, but it was a sight better than sleeping on the ground.

"I saw a stall down the road," I said, "y'all mind if I cook tonight?"

The others went searching for a boat, and I went searching for ingredients.

The market stalls were a little depressing. There wasn't much for sale, although it might have been because it was later in the day. Most of the smaller fish were still swimming in buckets and bins beside larger fillets half-hidden in salt. There were smoked and dried fish, jars of pickled roe and bags of dry barley and lentils, wild rice and texel.

There were a few soft knobs of garlic and wilting wild onions, a bundle of stiffening chard and bottles of fish oil.

The hearth in our room - and it was only one room, the only other rented out already to a merchant family - was small, and the wood piled beside it, reluctant to catch. But eventually there was a fire burning on the stone, water boiling and garlic frying. I gutted the fish - I thought they were herring, but I wasn't sure - and dragged the backbone out with the butt of a knife. I boiled the rice with oil and clover, tossed the fish in flour and started it frying.

I loved fish. I loved it pickled, fried, smoked, raw - any way I could get it. I'd spent the last few years of my life landlocked, and it had weighed on me. Izoold smelled just right - it had that chilly, unpleasant kind of air that kept away vacationers and encouraged early mornings and early nights. With the fire burning, it was practically perfect.

"That smells good," said Genis, Colette not far behind him. "What are you making?"

"Kedgeree, kind of," I said, scraping at a bit of caramelized onion, "I didn't end up boiling eggs, but everything else is pretty close. I hope you don't mind; I used some of the curry powder."

"That's why it's there," Genis shrugged.

"Woow! I can't wait."

The others came back soon, and with good news.

"We'll be leaving tomorrow," said Kratos, "it's a small ship, but it will get us to Palmacosta." Raine looked a little grey. Lloyd was grinning.

"We'll be taking a love letter across the sea! The girl was pretty bossy, though."

The kedgeree could have been spicier, but it was close enough.

"Man," said Lloyd, resting against the nearest bedframe, "it's hard to believe that Colette has wings now!"

"What brought that up?" I wondered.

"Well, there are so many birds here... I dunno, I'm kind of jealous! It must be cool to fly around like that." 

"I wish I could take you flying," said Colette, "I bet it'd be fun!"

"I wonder what's gonna happen at the next seal," wondered Genis. "Maybe you'll get an angel halo! Or you'll start glowing. I don't think it'll be horns or fangs or anything," he went on, oblivious to the way Colette shrank in on herself, eyes downcast. Even Lloyd saw it.

Raine put down her bowl with a clatter and stood. "It's time for children to be getting to bed," she said, seizing Genis by the ear and dragging him towards the washbowl. 

Kratos had long since 'gone out for air', and I gave Colette and Lloyd one long look before following his lead. Out of the corner of my eye, Lloyd leaned over, a broad hand on Colette's narrow shoulders, and said something very quietly. This, I thought, was Lloyd's territory, and none of my business.

"Fancy seeing you here," I said, scrubbing my hands together for warmth. 

"We have an early morning. You should get some sleep."

"Have you ever been to Palmacosta?"

"...Yes, a long time ago."

"Not a big fan?"

"I have no feelings about it either way."

"...So, how are you doing with all of this?"

"All of what?"

"The journey, and stuff. I mean, this can't be in your normal job description."

"A job is a job."

I didn't have anything to say to that.


	4. Palmacosta, Seal of Water

'It's the biggest city in the world!' Genis had said.

I hadn't expected a real city, even after Triet - but a real city it was. There was a skyline, the peaks of buildings blue-grey against the morning air; there was a clocktower, the lighthouse, the high steeple of the church, but there were also brownstones and tall, narrow shopfronts, and flags flying against the breeze. There were narrow cobbled streets and wide paving-stone avenues, street-lamps just beginning to wink out, and everywhere the porcupine bristle of mastheads.

Max, our woebegone captain, was happy to see the back of us.

There were stone piers beside wooden ones, ships hauling in the pre-dawn catch and others pushing out to see the morning, and others moored and covered from the wind. There was an open-air market beneath a massive canvas tent, boasting rows and rows of market stalls teeming with goods of all varieties. 

There were boxes piled high with apples, baskets of oranges, rows of massive fish on ice, bolts of fabric, buckets filled with fresh-cut flowers, pyramids of fresh-baked loaves, carts selling hotcakes with cream or fried fish, and a dozen types of beer, wine, and liquor. An old woman sliced carrots so thin they were transparent and another scraped burbling meat across a steaming grill. A girl was twisting dough into ribbons while another stoked the fire beneath a vat of boiling oil, and two stalls down there was a whole row of chickens turning on a spit, skin already golden and shining with fat.

In the aisles roamed stray dogs, seabirds, alley cats and wayward children. In odd alcoves sat buskers or panhandlers, and in others there were priests, or tired sailors, or women of negotiable affection. 

At the edges of it all moved the colony of stevedores, hauling crates and barrels, empty and full, in every direction. They swarmed as thickly as ants, each one trying to get where he was going in as little time as possible, no matter how many toes he had to step on. If noise was smoke, then the market would have been spilling over with it, clogging every inch and rolling low and thick across the stone. 

"Wow," said Colette.

The city stretched inland, tabby concrete buildings transmuting into brick and limestone and again into varnished wood and clay-tile roofs. Window-boxes overflowed with flowers and dangling green plants and ivy painted veins over stone facades. Gutters clogged with rainwater and horse manure, trees canopied miniature gardens, and here and there real glass windows made caricatures of passersby.

"It's huge," said Lloyd, still in a state of shock. "There have to be hundreds of people here!"

"Five hundred thousand," said Raine, "not counting outlying villages."

"Oh," I said, heart sinking.

I didn't think to watch the corners. Palmacosta was so large, and so different, that I counted the likelihood of seeing our doppelgangers as low to none. But narrative was sticky in Sylvarant, and we had only just emerged into the city proper when Colette, walking ahead with her eyes everywhere but on where she was going, made contact. Both girls hit the ground with two thumps and the sound of shattering glass. A broken bottle dripped red liqueur with a dejected _plop-plip_.

"Ooow! What did you do that for?!" 

Colette and her counterpart both struggled to their feet - and only then did I realize that the other girl wasn't a girl at all, but a grown woman made up to look younger than she was. She had rosy cheeks and long lashes, but the rouge was too pink and there were crow's feet hiding underneath her carefully-curled fringe. She wore a pendant necklace, the symbol of Cruxis glinting in gold leaf and glass, and a cleric's tabard about two inches too long, so that it dragged underfoot.

Her companions, too, wore outfits that came just shy of fitting, and had the smug, self-satisfied expressions of people who were about to make someone else's day very, very miserable.

"O-oh! I'm sorry!" Colette stood stiffly, face a mask of horror. 

"Aaah! The Palma Potion we just received!" 

There was something about the inflection that made me take a second look at the bottle. It was wine-green, the paper label beginning to disintegrate in the puddle of liqueur. I could just make out the first word - _Helmutt's -_ before the ink bled away into nothing. "Hey, lady," said the taller of the two men - he wore a plate gauntlet and shoulder piece, sabatons, but no body armor - "That was a very valuable potion! How are you planning on making up for this?"

"I-I'll buy a replacement potion right away," Colette insisted, hands clasped in desperate apology. 

" _Replacement potion?_ " He demanded, "Do you seriously think that's going to be enough to appease my anger?"

"Yeah, Colette," I said, loud enough to cut over Lloyd's defensive interjection, "I'd say he's hoping for, what," I stepped past Lloyd and swung an arm around Colette's shoulder, squinting down at the puddle, " _Helmutt's Valley Red?_ " I nudged a shard of glass over with my boot, then dropped my weight on it with a crunch. "Don't worry," I said, pasting on a smile, "I saw them for about 70 gald back there. You know what, I'd even pay for _two_ bottles."

"Wh- do you know who we _are?!_ " 

I stepped forward, crunching down on another shard of glass. "No, why don't you tell me?" 

"Stop," interjected the taller of the two women, "Don't start any unnecessary trouble." She was pretty and blonde, and like the rest of them, dressed very lightly for traveling. 

"It's -fine," stuttered Colette's double, brushing imaginary dirt from her tabard.

They hurried past us, and I watched them go.

"Oh no," Colette said, "I feel awful."

"Don't," Raine said, "they were trying to scam you."

"What?" asked Lloyd, wide-eyed.

"You can smell the booze," agreed Genis, nose wrinkling. "That was pretty nasty of them."

"Huh. I didn't even notice."

"Like that's a surprise."

"That's enough," sighed Raine, "let's find the Cathedral. The Priests there may be willing to help us."

The eastern side of Palmacosta was the oldest surviving part of the city, according to Genis. The Cathedral had stood for more than seven hundred years, and around it had grown up the Academy building - formerly a seminary - and the city hall. The lighthouse was a great gray shape in the distance, made of the same stone as the Cathedral - and in a way, serving the same purpose.

The city center was an agora of white limestone and pale coquina, thronged with locals and pilgrims and tourists and teeming with some smaller, city-bred cousin of the seagull that shrieked and nipped at ankles. 

Dorr stood on the steps of city hall, holding court to an audience of women, children, and the elderly. He was tall, blonde and stately, and had probably once been very handsome. A little girl in a purple dress stood beside him, hand in his, and eyes skimming with disinterest over the crowd. Soldiers in heavy plate flanked Dorr and Kilia, sunlight gleaming off their armor. One by one, Dorr's citizens came to him with their worries, and he soothed them. You couldn't help but watch.

"Governor-General Dorr!"

It was a little boy, six or seven, with watery eyes and a mop of brown hair. An older woman of no relation nudged him forward, and Dorr bent down to better hear him. 

"Dad was taken away to the ranch and hasn't come back," the boy said, twisting the hem of his shirt in two sticky hands, "even though I've been a good boy."

Door sank onto one knee and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hang on just a little longer," he said in a gentle voice that somehow carried halfway across the plaza, "I promised, remember? I'll save everyone who's been taken away to the ranch." The boy nodded miserably, looking down at his shoes, and a tear dripped from his chin.

"But," he pleaded, "I'm lonely."

"Don't worry," said Kilia, her own voice high and clear. She stepped forward and pried the boy's hands from his shirt, holding them in her own. Her face was beatific, golden curls toppling down her shoulders and skirt swaying slightly in the breeze as she smiled across at the little boy. "Father is a friend of everyone in the city. My mother died of an illness," she said, "but your father should still be alive. I'm sure he'll come back."

"Really?" The boy looked up at door, eyes shining.

"Yes," said Dorr. Then he straightened again, speaking now to the crowd, "They were all taken away because they fought back against the Desians. I swear I will rescue them." There was a wave of applause. Dorr said something else to the little boy, who nodded.

The bell in the church tower rang, and then it was over. Dorr and Kilia were ushered back towards the doors of city hall. The boy was taken away hand-in-hand by a woman in tears - his mother? - and the crowd dissipated. And when she thought no one was looking, Kilia wiped her hands on her skirt.

"That was... something," I said, when the doors had closed again.

"That was really cool," said Lloyd, "They're fighting back against the Desians! That's amazing!"

"The people here are really brave," agreed Colette.

"People certainly think highly of their Governor," said Raine, doubtful. "We should speak with him."

* * *

"I can't believe he gave away the book," Genis groused, kicking at a pebble. "What an idiot."

"Very trusting, certainly," Raine said.

"I wonder if they're still in the city," I said, "bet you five hundred gald it was those guys from earlier. A few thousand gald is small potatoes next to that book."

"Those jerks we ran into?" asked Lloyd, bewildered, "No way!"

"Edie is probably right," Kratos agreed. "They were heading in this direction when we saw them last."

"Do you think you can find them?" I asked, "It's a big city. I definitely couldn't."

"It's unlikely," Kratos agreed. I sighed. 

I really should have thought of that earlier.

"We should at least try!" insisted Genis.

"Tell you what," I said, finally, "maybe Kratos and I go looking and the rest of you keep asking around here?"

I looked at Kratos, who shrugged. 

"Be careful," said Raine, "and don't get into any trouble." That was directed at me, for some reason. 

"Where are you going?" Kratos asked, a few minutes later when I made to take the opposite fork.

"Splitting up? Is that not the plan?"

Kratos looked pained. "You're only going to get lost."

"No, I can see landmarks," I gestured towards the steeple of the church, "look, if I don't show up in a few hours I'm probably dead anyway, it's fine. I'll meet you at city hall. Peace."

I didn't like arguing - or rather, I didn't like losing arguments, and sometimes you just had to have the last word. I flickered under an awning only a few shopfronts down, scaring a cat off a windowsill, and disappeared into the crowd. 

If anyone could find the impostors, it'd be Kratos. He hadn't taken the initiative, yes, but that was probably because he already knew where the seals were, and didn't see the point in getting worked up over the book. And while I could make educated guesses, my guesses would look much cleverer if they were backed up by evidence. It was a win-win situation - Kratos would find the book, because he was too proud not to, and I'd get to goof off for a few hours.

* * *

"Hey," I said accusingly, pointing the end of my fruit skewer in her direction, "you're the one who tried to pull one over on my friend."

It was hard to look dignified when you were holding a drumstick in one hand. She tried anyway. "I don't know what you're talking about." There was turkey grease on the front of her shirt.

"Hey, no, I respect it," I said, grinning, "you're a quick thinker. Strawberry?"

"...All right," she said, plucking it off the end of my skewer. "Where are your _friends?_ "

"Oh, Church," I laughed, "they're _pilgrims_."

She snorted. "Gullible, then."

I rolled my eyes. "You wouldn't believe it. Hey, I'm Chocolat."

"Amelia."

"Nice to meet you," I said, beaming, "no hard feelings?"

"Hmm," she said, "I never _did_ get that Helmutt's Red."

"Tell you what," I said, "I've got cash. Drinks on me? I feel a bit bad for what happened earlier."

And that was how I ended up in a pub with four impostors.

It wasn't a nice bar, by any stretch of the imagination. It was the kind of tourist trap that sold horse-piss beer and rotting oysters at three times market value and had to fish dead things out of the grease bucket. I played clueless with the barman, ordering strong drinks for our table on a tab under Amelia's name. "Reds for the pretty ladies," I said to Amelia and the other woman, "beers for the boys." 

"You're all right," cackled the one in armor, "cheers!"

I tossed the cup back on closed lips. I was doing beer - it was watery, for one thing, and men had some sort of brain disease that told them women who drink beer are somehow _cool_. 

The witch was obviously the smartest out of the four - but you don't fleece people out of ancient relics without a bit of an ego.

"Oh my goddess, I wish I had legs like yours," I said, sighing. "So unfair."

The witch giggled. Her cheeks were already pink, and she'd only had half her glass. "Isn't this dress great? It was ten _thousand_ gald," she said in a stage whisper.

This, I thought, is what four years of waitressing gets you. 

Two hours later, the witch was out cold, one of the men had gone out to piss and not come back, and the other was arguing with another man about the right way to eat saltpork. Amelia and I had talked about all sorts of things - how annoying her mother was, her childhood dog, how she did her hair - and she'd gotten quite comfortable. She was the kind of person that could carry one half of a conversation entirely on her own if you nodded in the right places.

"And you wouldn't _believe_ how stupid Dorr was. Handed over his heirloom like that..." she burst into damp giggles.

"Ooooh, something good?" I asked, leaning on my hand. 

"Not really," Amelia sneered, "a _book_. But there's this geezer up north who'll pay loads for old stuff."

"Oooh, Koton," I agreed, "he's _awwwful_." I hadn't touched the beer, but I had spilled it at some key points, for the look of things. "Can I see? Does it have, like, jewels?"

"Ugh, no," said Amelia, struggling to lean down out of her chair, "it's so boring. I mean, look," she hauled herself up again, huge leather-bound volume in one small hand. "It's not even written in common. But Lyla figures we can get loads for it." She muffled a burp behind one hand. "People are so stupid, they'll give you anything if they think you're the Ch-chosen," she burped again. I held out a hand.

"Can I see?"

Amelia paused, still sober enough to suspect I might have ulterior motives. "You'll give it back?"

"Obviously," I rolled my eyes. Amelia passed me the volume. I turned it over and flipped a few pages, squinting at the squiggly script in the dimness of the pub. On the inner cover was the same seal as on the Palmacostan flag. There was gilt edging and a red ribbon for marking your place, and the entire thing had to weigh fifteen pounds. I tucked it under one arm and swiveled off the stool. "Well, this has been fun. Bye!"

"You -" Amelia swayed forward, and fell.

"Have fun with the tab," I waved, and let the tavern door swing shut behind me.

* * *

"Where have you been?" asked Lloyd, "Kratos said you ran off!"

Colette and Genis were playing tic-tac-toe on a low wall, Raine was going through her things, and Kratos was standing with his arms crossed and glowering. I grinned, and whipped the book out from behind my back. 

"Ta-da!"

"You found it," said Kratos, approvingly.

"No luck on your end, I guess," I preened, passing him the book.

"On my end? I came back here the moment you left," said Kratos, "you were so eager to do it yourself, after all."

"Come on," I said, "let me have this!"

"Kratos said you think like a scam artist," volunteered Genis, "so you could probably find them easy."

"What? I do not," I insisted, "I'm an upstanding citizen, when it's convenient."

Raine closed the top of her bag and cleared her throat. "Let's find somewhere for the night. I have a lot to go over and you all need rest."

"I feel like you're inadequately impressed," I whined.

Raine smiled, but there was something off about it. "From one _scholar_ to another, then, well done." 

* * *

Later, when Colette was in the bath, I asked her. "What was all that about, earlier?"

"Why are you wanted by the Desians, really?" Raine asked, tone light.

"I... don't know?"

"You don't have to worry," Raine said, wry, "the children don't suspect anything."

I leaned back. "And what would they suspect?"

Raine hung a shirt out to air. "You have an impressive array of daggers," she said, finally, "I think I even recognize one of them. It was supposed to have belonged to Cleo III, wasn't it?" She glanced down. "Your exsphere is a little different from ours. I expect the Desians weren't too pleased when you took it." She perched on the bed opposite mine. "I feel obliged to ask, Edie, for everyone's safety. _Were_ you a Desian?"

"Of course I wasn't," I said, surprised at how much the accusation hurt. "I'd never be complicit in something like that."

"But," said Raine, leaning back, "you're not a 'researcher'. You're very clever, but you're not a 'researcher', are you."

I felt the thread of the conversation slipping through my fingers. "...No, I'm not."

"Why are you with us, then? I meant to ask earlier," she paused, "but it always seemed the wrong time."

"When did you realize?" I figured the way to get through this was to be as vague as possible and hope Raine would draw the conclusions for me. I had no idea what was going on - it was like trying to make my way down a spiral staircase in the dark. If I wasn't careful, I'd end up at the bottom with my head smashed in. 

"I've suspected since after the first seal," she said, "you have a habit of... making things up."

"Of lying, you mean."

"I don't think you mean any harm by it," allowed Raine, "but often you're inconsistent without realizing it. You forgot the name of your hometown, for instance. And you have odd gaps in what would be common academic knowledge. Today... You think in a certain way, you understand."

"Oh," I leaned back. "So..."

"Why _are_ you with us?" she asked, "it can't be simple academic curiosity."

I rolled my head back, trying to piece together Raine's picture of me. If she was asking this now, then she must really be concerned. I didn't blame her - only I had been so certain that I was _getting away with it_. "Morbid curiosity?" I suggested. "At first it was because I owed Lloyd, and then..." I trailed off, trying to conjure up only absolute truth. "I don't believe in any of this. It's fishy. But Colette..."

"Colette believes," agreed Raine.

"She hasn't been eating."

"...No, she hasn't."

We both dwelled on that for a long moment. It was an awful, uncomfortable silence.

"Do you want me to leave?" I asked, finally.

"No, I don't," Raine sighed. "Genis likes you. So do Lloyd and Colette."

"But you don't?"

Raine smiled. "I like you, but I'd be a fool to trust you."

My heart twinged. "You know I'd never do anything to endanger you or any of the kids."

"Yes, I know," she agreed, "but you can't blame me for worrying."

"I can't," I said, drumming my fingers on my ankle. "And there's probably not anything I could say that would make you feel better about it, is there."

"No, I don't think so."

I groaned and flopped back onto the bed, an arm across my face. That was the thing I always forgot. 

Watching people sometimes meant they watched back.

"The bath is free," said Colette, voice emerging from a cloud of damp, warm air. "They have this really nice soap, it smells just like roses!"

* * *

"You missed a lot," Lloyd told me, "Genis got a certificate to the Academy!"

"Really?"

"Yeah," said Genis, puffing up, "we took a test and everything. Lloyd only scored 25."

"Out of a hundred?" I asked.

"Out of four hundred," Genis snickered. Lloyd kicked at the back of his foot.

"People are smart in different ways," I shrugged, "I test well but I'm dumb as rocks. You shouldn't feel bad about it."

"Lloyd tests badly _and_ he's dumb as rocks," teased Genis. Lloyd slung an arm around Genis' neck and gave him a noogie. 

We were traveling northeast for the Thoda docks. Raine, when she had finished interrogating me, had devoted her evening to pouring over the Book of Spiritua. The descriptions weren't as literal as I'd hoped, but Raine seemed confident. We'd go to Thoda, first, and then travel north to Asgard, the rumored site of the Spirit of Wind. We'd return to Palmacosta before heading north - there would be nowhere else to buy supplies on the road.

Lloyd, Genis and Colette were excited to be on the road again. Raine could hardly be pried from the old book, and Kratos was eternally on lookout.

I trailed behind in a foul mood.

Yes, Raine was being reasonable. I couldn't fault her for being cautious. But I still wanted to kick my feet and insist that I was _good_ , really, and couldn't she just trust me? We'd traveled together for nearly a month, and on the road a month felt like an eternity. It was so unfair, and at the same time it was entirely justified. So I was caught between feeling ashamed of myself and feeling unfairly pilloried.

The children cottoned on and kept their distance, which only made me feel worse. Raine was busy, and I was hardly going to go to Kratos for reassurance.

"You're lagging behind."

"Oh. My bad," I said, hurrying to keep up with him. 

"...You're sulking."

"I'm not," I protested. "I'm just tired."

"If you intend to remain on this journey," he said, "you must get used to being held accountable."

I sighed.

"Isn't it enough to be accountable when it matters?"

"It always matters."

 _Rich, coming from you_ , I thought.

* * *

"Hey, is Edie a nickname? I guess I've never heard it before," said Lloyd, ducking a low branch.

"It's a nickname," I agreed, "why?"

"Well, I wanna know what your real name is, duh."

"Oh. It's Edith. But only my mom ever called me that."

"...Are your parents still around?"

"No... I lost my father when I was about your age, and my mom a year or two ago."

"Oh. Crap. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. They were both older when they had me. I had a lot of good time with them, and that's really all you can ask for."

"...You know, sometimes you don't seem grown up at all, and then sometimes you're really mature. I don't get it."

"''We should treat all the trivial things of life very seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality'." 

"Huh?"

"It's... do you know what a farce is?"

"Nope."

"It's a kind of comedy. A kind of play, usually. Everything's really exaggerated and over-the-top. It's all misunderstandings and outrageous coincidences and stuff going wrong in the strangest ways possible. But there's always a character or two, right, who's trying to forge on as if the world makes sense and if they're just serious enough, they'll be able to smack the world back into order. The characters that end up happiest are always the ones who can see how stupid everything really is."

"Okay, so?"

I shrugged. "Being serious all the time is exhausting."

"You really are weird."

* * *

"I know you said you didn't need anything," said Colette, "but I thought... Um, well, happy birthday.

"Colette! You're such a sweetheart. What's this?"

"It's made from a seashell, isn't it pretty? They had earrings and hairpins, too, but I thought the necklace would look nice... And it wouldn't get in the way when we were fighting. I know it's not much, but..."

"It's beautiful. Can I hug you?"

"Oh! Sure!"

"Thanks, Colette."

"Are... are you okay?"

"Ugh, sorry," I said, wiping my eyes, "I didn't mean to drip all over you."

"No, it's okay! Um... would you like another hug?"

"You're a treasure, Colette. Thanks."

* * *

"So what _will_ happen to Colette at the next seal?"

Raine sighed. "I don't know. Nothing pleasant, I'm sure. But it's... necessary."

"Do you think you could do it? If it was you, I mean."

"...Hmm. I don't know. Probably not. Colette has been conditioned for this her whole life. I don't know if I could continue, given the circumstances. It would be fascinating, but... No." She glanced at Genis, illuminated by the campfire, his face scrunched up in concentration while he worked. Lloyd and Colette worked on either side, shoulder-to-shoulder, heads bent over their workbooks. "I don't think that I could."

"That's a good thing, I think."

"Is it? The world is dying. In fifty or sixty years there won't be mana enough to grow crops, and in a hundred there won't be anything to hunt. People don't realize how steep the decline is, and how far along we are. Regeneration is the only option we have."

"So what happens when the world 'regenerates'? I understand that we get more mana, but what about the Desians? Does Cruxis smite them from on high, or do they die out on their own?"

"The former, if you believe scripture."

"You'd think after so many apocalyptic near-misses Martel would try harder to stay awake."

"That's a very literal interpretation," said Raine, wry. 

"What's the other interpretation?"

"Mana is finite. There's never been a perpetual source of it, and there never will be. But the process of reawakening the Summon Spirits reinvigorates the natural mana flow, like removing stops from a water wheel. The inertia is enough to propel Sylvarant another millennia or so, but never indefinitely. You could say that Martel's awakening is a metaphor for the revitalized mana cycle."

"You could."

"You sound skeptical."

"No, I understand the concept. Like... heat death."

"Heat death?"

"Maximum entropy. There's not enough free energy to make anything happen, so nothing happens forever."

"I've never heard the name, but yes, the basic idea is the same. Natural processes will simply cease."

"And Martel 'sleeping' is the process of... lost momentum?"

"Yes, that's a way of understanding it."

"Huh. Yeah, I can see it from that perspective."

"Are you still upset with me?"

I blinked. "I'm not upset with you."

"No?"

"I've been upset with myself, yeah. I wish I could be more honest with you."

"Why can't you?"

"My life... doesn't make a lot of sense. But, you know what, if I'm still around in six months, I'll tell you everything there is to know. You won't believe a word of it, but I'll tell you."

"Six months is a long time."

"Well, I gotta have faith in something. And right now I have faith that in six months I'll tell you more about myself and you'll laugh."

"That only makes you sound more suspicious, you know."

"I know."

"I suppose I'm being unfair. Kratos is much more of a closed book than you are. But..."

"He's good at his job and he takes things seriously?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, I guess friendliness is an option when you're a mercenary."

"He's kind to the children, in his own way. It's charming."

"Oh, is it?"

"I - not like that. Stop smiling. You know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah. Like a wolf herding ducklings. Very, uh, fatherly. In his way."

"You know... most women our age have started families. I suppose I never thought about it, but we're certainly the outliers. Many of the girls in my first class at Iselia are mothers now."

"Human lives must seem fast to an elf."

"...Yes, they do. I wonder sometimes how Genis will cope. He's only ever been around humans."

"He has time to figure it out."

"But how much time, I wonder..."

"Yeah. But you don't really get to choose, do you?"

"I suppose not. What?"

"Why don't we ever make light conversation? It's always a philosophy class when I talk to you."

"We both think too much, I suppose."

"...What's your favorite color, Raine?"

* * *

"What are you writing?" asked Genis, peering over my shoulder.

"Stories."

"Ones that you made up?"

"No, no, just ones that I know. They're... not written down anywhere. And I needed something to do while you kids did your homework."

"What are you writing down now?"

"The tale of Koschei the Deathless. Well, the version I remember."

"I've never heard of that."

"I guess you wouldn't have. It's a fairy tale. You can give it a look over once it's done, if you like."

"Okay! Fairy tales are pretty interesting."

"They are, aren't they? Do you have a favorite?"

"Well... Mithos the Hero, I guess. Or the story of the Moon People."

"I don't know that one. Is it about the elves?"

"Yeah!"

"Hmm. Well, I could use a break. Could you tell me how it goes?"

"S-sure! Well, a long time ago, before the world was born, there were the green men, who drove chariots across fields of stars... They'd been like us, once, living and dying on the same planet as their mothers. But they'd gotten so good at magic that one day they no longer died, and that they were more like gods than people.

"The planet got too full, and so they went out across the stars. And even then there were still too many, so they went to war, because they could only fall in battle. Generations fought and died until no one remembered why the fighting had started, and then one day there were only two of them left. A man and a woman, from opposing armies, and they made peace because there was no one else left to fight.

"They went back to their homeworld, which had been left so long ago that they thought it was a legend, and found it was destroyed. So the two survivors sailed the sky until they found a place to land, and that was Derris-Kharlan. They cast from memory the magic that had kept them immortal, and vowed to live humble lives, and they were the first elves."

"...You're a good storyteller, Genis."

Genis flushed. "I have a good memory."

"So, elves used to be green?"

* * *

"..."

"What?" I turned a spoonful over in my dish, then peered over at Kratos. "Did I get a hair in it or something?"

"...No."

"Too spicy?"

"No."

"You can just say it's bad, you know."

"I'm... not partial to tomatoes."

"Oh."

"..."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh."

* * *

"They're... washtubs."

"Yep, it's a washtub."

Thoda - the dockside town, not the island - occupied a thin strip of green, hilly coast, with sheer rock cliffs rather than beaches. What little of the town there was couldn't have filled the seats in the chapel, but there were two girls who cooked and cleaned, a woman who kept the inn, and outside, an ancient woman with an evil eye, who made sure that no one made off in a washtub they hadn't paid for. She sat in a creaky little chair with a rottweiler at her feet the size of a pony.

Dozens of wooden washtubs in various states of repair were tethered to the pier, thumping hollowly against one another as gentle waves drove them back towards shore. Bracken climbed some nearly to the rim, while others looked freshly painted in blue and yellow, and still others had been festooned with bunting along the top edge. 

The girl inside had given us the oars, like clubs at a miniature golf course, and now we were here, gazing out across the turquoise water towards Thoda Geyser.

"Washtubs," said Kratos, as if dazed.

Colette bounced in place. "Wow, this looks like it'll be fun!"

"I - I'm going to wait here," insisted Raine, grey-faced, "Go on ahead without me."

"Huh? What's wrong, Professor?" asked Lloyd, glancing up and down as if Raine might have somehow broken an arm while he wasn't paying attention.

"N-nothing," Raine's voice rose in pitch, "I'm not getting in that thing."

"It looks fun," reassured Colette, "Come on, let's get in!"

"Yeah, Raine," Genis said, grabbing his sister's hand and pulling her towards the others. 

Raine shrieked, wrenched her hand free, and then froze in place, mortified.

"Ahh?" echoed Lloyd, dumbfounded. "Professor Sage, are you... afraid of water, or something?" 

Raine closed her eyes, lips quivering as she took a deep breath. "N-no, I was just starting to say, 'ahh, this should be fun!'" She cleared her throat, neck bright red from embarrassment, and began marching awkwardly towards the end of the pier, like a wind-up doll with rusted joints. She climbed stiffly into a washtub hung with green bunting, and sat down, eyes closed very tightly.

"Um. Okay," said Lloyd.

Kratos muffled a snort.

Fifteen minutes later, we had reached the other pier, no worse for wear.

Raine had to be helped up onto the dock, but soon she was back to her old self again.

The little island was crowded with tourists, most in broad-brimmed hats and wearing new-looking backpacks. There was a Martellian tour guide, symbol of Cruxis pinned to her jacket and a wooden plank painted with a star held over her head, beckoning her followers like someone waving a plane down to land. A man had set up a blanket near the main thoroughfare, and had lined up row after row of tiny Spiritua figurines and, incredibly, miniature washtubs.

"It's just a cup," complained Genis, as I dangled it at him.

"You never know when you need a shallow cup," I said, "and it's got a chain on it. Worth every penny."

"I can't believe you bought that," said Lloyd, shaking his head.

"It says 'Thoda Geyser' on the side! What more could you want?"

A little ways away, Colette had come to a stop, looking not at the geyser, but at a little signboard up on another viewing platform. "Hmm."

"What is it?" prompted Kratos.

"That sign over on that lookout platform..."

"What about it?"

"It looks kind of familiar," Colette said, frowning and fiddling with a lock of hair, "maybe it's just my imagination." 

That was interesting. Did Chosen have some kind of genetic memory? Or perhaps in the process of opening the seals, something in Colette's mana began to recognize the signature? Or maybe Colette had seen it in a book as a child, and just forgotten it until now. She stared at it, her little face scrunched up in thought. Her hair was beginning to frizz in the humid air, and she was beginning to sunburn.

"Hmm."

Kratos, if you knew to look for it, wasn't a great actor.

Lloyd had wandered off, and a few moments later he was waving at us from the lookout platform.

"Hey, isn't this a whatchamacallit stone?"

"An oracle stone," said Kratos tiredly. Lloyd flushed.

"That must be why it looked so familiar," said Colette, smiling at Lloyd like he'd struck water in a desert. 

"Ugh, good thing we had the book," said Lloyd, "how are you supposed to find something this small on a whole continent?"

"I'll try putting my hand on the stone," said Colette, "um, here goes nothing!"

Colette's hand made contact. The sheer wall that backed the geyser, foggy blue-green stone bleached by heat, shook and then exploded. With a sound like a burst pipe, rock flew from the cliff face and rocketed out into the geyser, sending high arcs of boiling water searing across the stone. Clumps of lichen that had survived there for generations curdled and slid into the water, and a fine spray of burning mist blew off the surface as the impact settled. A moment later, the bridge appeared.

It gave the impression of light reflecting off a clear, still river, hanging in the air like a sheet of cloth stretched tight between four posts. It was translucent, and the very edges shivered erratically. It was a hundred-yard walk between the lookout platform and the aperture that had opened in the cliffside.

Some of the tourists applauded. Lloyd waved. The bridge shimmered.

"Eugh," I said, as Raine forged ahead, eyes glittering.

In the crowd below, nearly hidden by brown and black and eggshell, I thought I saw a flash of purple.

"Having trouble?" asked Kratos, all amusement.

"It's fine," I insisted, willing my legs to move, and finding that they wouldn't.

"You'll want to hurry."

"Nrrgh." I took a deep breath, and bounded up behind the others, the forwards momentum distracting me from the potential of _downwards_ momentum. But soon I had come up on Colette, and there was nothing to do but walk at a measured pace. I wobbled the rest of the way up, sure that at any minute I'd wander off the path and fall into the geyser. The bridge was solid underfoot, but I couldn't escape the image of it phasing out beneath me. Kratos, behind me, simmered with poorly concealed impatience.

I was happy to be inside with my feet on stone. 

"That sucks," I said, my voice echoing on the damp cavern walls.

"You didn't have any trouble with the walkways in Triet," said Kratos.

"Those were made of stone!"

He glanced behind us. "It seems our tagalong didn't make it in."

"She didn't fall in, did she?"

"No, Noishe got in her way."

"How brave of him."

The temple smelled of the deep ocean, and reverberated with the distant sounds of surf. Miniature geysers filled the air with steam, which pearled on the walls and on our clothes. We would be soaked, soon. The place was flooded, so that there was an inch of water on every surface, and our footsteps sloshed louder than our voices. Monsters swarmed here and there in puddles of heat, swimming in the air on updrafts of vapor. 

Gargoyles spouted from the walls, some shaped like lions, others women, others sea creatures, carved out of the same blue-green stone of the geyser wall. Some areas of the temple appeared to be open to the sky, but the quality of the sunlight had changed, casting iridescent shadows over everything. Waterfalls thundered over stone and below us, the ocean writhed, deeper and blacker than it had been around the island. Shapes, huge and slow, moved just beneath the surface.

"The Sorcerer's Ring again," mused Raine.

The trial here only vaguely resembled what I remembered. We sat vigil while Raine balanced clay vessels on silver scales - and while Lloyd carried fresh water from one end of a long platform to another, where a stone serpent sat belching. Only fresh water would pass the mouth of the krater, saltwater evaporating into pungent steam on contact. 

"There," said Raine, stepping back and allowing the weighted side of the scale to fall.

The two sides of the scale leveled, and there was a sound like a gong ringing from underwater. When we came back topside, a platform had risen out of the seething water, warp igniting a halo of mist where it stood.

"Ugh. That was boring," said Lloyd. His hair was hanging limply over one eye, and his bright red coat had turned wine-dark. Colette's bangs were plastered to her forehead, and even Kratos looked like he'd had a fall in a swimming pool. Raine and Genis were distinctly flushed, and I probably didn't look much better.

"It's not meant to be fun," Raine scolded.

"And it's not like you had to do much," Genis teased.

"I carried all that water!"

"Let's get this over with," suggested Kratos.

"This one takes second on my temple rankings for sure," I said, "at least Triet was just hot."

The altar room gave the impression of being far underground. It was dark, barely illuminated by the warp and the light of the altar itself, and water rose flush with the platform so that it lapped over the edges. The stone floor was slick and dark and decorated with mosaics of sea glass. I thought I could hear distant singing - but it was probably just the echoes. The altar, as ever, clashed.

The material and style were entirely different - it was like putting an ATM in a gothic cathedral and expecting it to blend in. The color palette was roughly the same, but the way it sat there on the platform, ringed in metal and plastic, made it look like a beached alien spacecraft.

"I can feel mana welling up," said Genis, staring around at the dim blue lights, "it's the same as the Seal of Fire."

The sound of singing grew louder and louder, until it was ringing in my ears. Lloyd had his hands clapped to either side of his head, but Kratos had drawn his sword. The Adulocia condensed as if out of mist, a huge merwoman with too black, liquid eyes and too many mouths, flanked by the uncanny Amphitra, anglerfish lures bobbing in the dark. They carried silver harps, and the song had climbed inside my head and I could feel it there like a drop of ink in clear water.

" _Edie!_ "

I blinked. Raine had beaned me with the end of her staff. She was hazy and indistinct.

 _The song,_ she mouthed. I looked around - Kratos seemed unmoved, but Genis and Lloyd hung there, entranced. I could feel it washing over me again, and even as one of the Amphitra struck Colette, it felt right to stand here and listen. It was beautiful music - it deserved to be appreciated. Why had I drawn my daggers, anyway? I was safe here.

And then Raine hit me again, this time between the eyes, and everything went silent. I couldn't hear the singing, but I couldn't hear anything else. Raine looked furious and panicked, and gestured towards the seal guardians. I saw them clearly again, as monsters, and nodded. 

It was very surreal to fight in silence. I felt the vibration of the stone beneath me, and the jolt of force as the dagger met scales, but it was like being in a dream. I attacked the Amphitra first, furious at being so easily puppeted, and the nearer I was the less beautiful they became. Their features elongated and warped, and up close their sweet lavender faces split in two to reveal rows and rows of needle-sharp teeth.

I wrestled away the lyre and broke it over my knee. I felt the twang of the strings like an electric shock, and suddenly I was forty pounds lighter. 

Lloyd rushed past me, mouth open in a silent battle cry, and fell on the other Amphitra. Genis was still bobbing around, dazed, as Raine cast spell after frantic spell at the Adulocia, who hadn't liked being ignored. Each of the Adulocia's arms terminated in a shark head, teeth as long as Raine's forearm, and with each second her shield spell became more feeble. Kratos came to her rescue, distracting the Adulocia but suffering a gory wound on his sword arm. 

A bite-sized bit of Kratos had left with the Adulocia's arm.

I appeared above her head, clawing madly at the air like a lemur looking for somewhere to land, and managed to hook a leg over her shoulder, flailing wildly for a moment before I could swing myself back up. I raked blindly at her face with one dagger and buried the other into her shoulder as a hand-hold. Her forearms were too long to bend at the angle needed to bite me - but her head wasn't so restricted.

She sank her teeth into my calf, trying to wrench me off her back, but the teeth in her mouth were short and sharp, meant for gripping rather than tearing, and the pain wasn't enough to dislodge me.

I banged the butt of my dagger against the top of her head, trying to do about the same thing but in the opposite direction.

A bolt of fire smashed into the top half of the Adulocia's face, wrenching her head back and freeing me, but at the same moment my hand slipped on the buried dagger and I fell. I expected to crack my tailbone on the floor, but suddenly Colette was there to catch me and bear me safely down. I grinned at her, and she grinned back, head silhouetted against the magenta light of her wings.

Genis struck the killing blow, an arc of pressurized air so dense and sharp that it left the Adulocia in two pieces.

I was still deaf, and my leg had gone numb - and on closer inspection, purple.

Raine knelt next to me, mouth moving, but I gestured dumbly at my ears. It took a second for her to remember how she'd disenchanted me, and another bonk for the world to come flooding back.

"Oww," I said, knocking a fist against the side of my head like it might dislodge water.

"Hmm," she leaned over, stripping my pant leg from the knee down, "the bite was probably poisonous. Sit still for a moment."

"Hey," I said, "pants cost money."

"But they can be replaced," said Raine, staff hovering over my leg like a tricorder. The feeling started to creep back in - painful at first, and then just a kind of dull ache. "That should do you."

"Thanks for the save," I said, standing. The shredded pant leg flapped around my ankle. I glowered at it.

"Your dagger," said Kratos, tossing it handle-first from where it had fallen. I caught it, wrinkling my nose. It was sticky with purple-black ichor, and smelled strongly of fish.

"That was weird," said Lloyd, "what was that song thing?"

"Siren song," Raine said, "you and Genis were affected because you're boys. Edie..."

"What? Girls are cute," I said.

"And Kratos?" asked Genis.

"Even siren-song cannot affect the strong-willed," said Kratos, and to his credit, it was utterly convincing. His arm, I noted, had already been bandaged, and he looked uncharacteristically tired.

"He's too old," I said, in a stage whisper, because I suspected the real answer wasn't very funny at all. Lloyd still seemed bewildered. Raine shook her head, and gestured towards the altar. 

The image of Undine appeared for just a moment, a shape in the mist, and then she was gone.

 _Chosen of Regeneration. You have done well in reaching this far. Now, offer your prayers at the altar_.

"Yes!" 

We gathered behind Colette as she climbed the platform, hair tinged blue in the dark. She became a black silhouette against the altar, voice magnified a hundred times over by the echo. "Oh Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength!" 

She rose, wings casting shards of red light across the stone.

Remiel appeared, and in the humid air, looked faintly wrong. He had looked real enough before, but now he looked like a projection, droplets of mist clipping through what should have been flesh and cloth. His face was the same as ever, vacant and pleasant and disinterested. He seemed colder, too, and more distant.

"You have done well, Chosen One, Colette. The second seal is now released."

"Thank you, Father." 

The silence that followed was too long. 

"Accept this blessing from Cruxis. I hereby grant you additional angelic power."

"Ah, Father?" Colette's voice was quieter, now.

It was the same this time - motes of light twisting down, passing from Remiel to Colette, her body shining like moonlight for a moment before fading back to normal. If it had a sound, it was a bell chiming from far off, or the sound of singing glass. And then it was over, and Colette was hovering before Remiel again, that empty look on his face.

"The next seal lies far north, in a place that gazes upon the end. Offer your prayers at the altar in that distant land."

"Father, have I done something to displease you?"

"It matters not. All that is needed is for you to become an angel," said Remiel, without inflection. "I will be waiting for you at the next seal. Colette, my daughter. Hurry and become a true angel. Do not disappoint me."

He was gone in a burst of light.

"What's up with him?" asked Genis, disgruntled, "He always talks like he's _soo_ important."

Colette landed quietly on the steps, eyes downcast.

"Apologize to Colette," ordered Raine, cuffing Genis upside the head.

"Owww!"

"It's all right," said Colette, "Father... Remiel really does sound like that."

"Well," said Lloyd, trying to clear the air, "shall we? We gotta stop by Palmacosta!"

"Yes," said Raine, "we've made good time, but I'd rather not linger in uncertain territory."


	5. Palmacosta Ranch

Colette fell ill again, not far from the dock house, and there was nothing to do but make camp.

"If this is going to happen every time she releases a seal, Colette is going to have a difficult journey ahead of her," observed Raine. "For the time being, I'm going to call the phenomenon Angel Toxicosis. If we can understand it, we might be able to ease the symptoms."

"I'm fine," insisted Colette, "It'll go away soon. I'm sorry for worrying everyone."

"You're not allowed to apologize anymore, okay?" said Lloyd, fond. 

Colette was much cheerier in the morning, but her eyes still looked tired. Maybe I was imagining things.

The trip back to Palmacosta felt much shorter, maybe because the scenery hadn't changed, and maybe because we were eager for dry beds and a chance to wash up. The salt of the seawater had left behind a gritty residue on everything that still hadn't come off. I still felt damp, and Lloyd's hair had never quite recovered. 

"What's happening?" asked Genis.

There was the smell of acrid smoke, and the sound of deadly quiet. We were quiet, too, like school children sneaking through a graveyard. The bones of the city hadn't changed, but windows had been shuttered, flower-boxes upturned, and the streets emptied. People were in hiding - they appeared in flashes at doorways and in curtained windows, all frightened eyes and hunched shoulders. And as we neared the main thoroughfare, we saw the source of the smell.

The skeleton of a shop still smoldered, the guts of it, what had once been cabinets, shelves, tables - they were matchsticks now, ready to crumble at a touch. The buildings to either side were unscathed, and here and there bits of broken glass and ruined metal glinted in the ashes. The facade had been knocked aside, and there was the residue of many, many footprints, marking out the aftermath of the fire - and evidence of a looting. The fire had started inside, and the hanging sign still lay intact in the heap of ash and charcoal. 

_Marble's_. 

Someone hissed from an open doorway. It was very loud in the quiet of the street. 

"Get inside!" whispered the woman, only a sliver of her face visible through the crack. "Hurry!" 

There was the slide of a chain and the thunk of a lock. The six of us slipped, one by one, through the slice of doorway and into the half-light of a dim, small kitchen, already crowded with people. The woman who had called us surveyed the street another time, eyes narrowed, and then shut the door again, turning a deadbolt and replacing the chain. She looked familiar, although I couldn't place her. 

"What happened?" asked Lloyd, pained.

The woman at the door glanced around. There were so many people here, more than a dozen - men, women, and children, huddled with one another for comfort. "The Desians came," she said, "while the soldiers were out training. They took people. We don't know how many."

"It's my fault," said another woman, voice very quiet. She was middle-aged, with a bobbed haircut and nasty bruise on the side of her face. She was hunched at the small table, eyes unfocused. "They came to kill me, but..."

"It's _not_ your fault," snapped the first, "they would have looked for any excuse-"

"My daughter refused to sell them goods," interrupted the second, "they came to hang me, but people... It was chaos."

"We fought back," whispered someone else from the semidarkness.

"And we'll get _them_ back," said the first woman, "they're at the Ranch. The army is already-"

"You were in the square, the other day," I interrupted, "with the little boy."

She looked at me, hardness just concealing grief and fury. "Yes."

"We have to do something," insisted Colette, "What's the point of regeneration if I can't save these people right in front of me?"

"Colette-" Raine began.

"We have to go save them," Lloyd agreed, "this is just like what happened in Iselia. It can't happen again."

"Slow down," said Kratos, a hand on his shoulder. "What you're suggesting is dangerous. Not only for the Chosen, but for Palmacosta."

"Neil's gone ahead with the army," said a teenage girl who was seated half-under the table. "They're going to storm the ranch and get everyone back."

Raine and I shared doubtful looks.

"We have to," Colette insisted, fists balled at her side, "I won't be able to li- we have to. Please, Professor. Kratos."

"What can you do?" said the woman who had let us in, "I see you're adventurers, but..."

"I-" Colette's expression changed, "I'm the Chosen. I have to help, if I can."

"Colette," said Raine, a cautious whisper in the following silence.

"This is not your fight. You have the seals to release," advised Kratos, "When the world is regenerated, these people will be saved."

"What if they don't survive that long?" asked Genis, bleakly.

" _Please_ ," begged Colette.

"I'll come," I volunteered, "I'm with Colette here."

"We _have_ to," insisted Lloyd. Genis nodded. Raine and Kratos shared a glance.

"If that's what you want," Raine said, to Colette.

"We need rest and supplies," said Kratos, after a moment. "If we leave now in our condition, we damn them just as well as if we didn't go at all," he added, because Lloyd looked ready to riot. "It's a two-day journey and the six of us will move much faster than an army. If you want to do this, don't do it halfway. You'll only get yourself killed, alongside the prisoners." Lloyd looked down at his feet.

"We were able to save some of the stock," said a very old man, "we saw them coming and rushed out what we could. What do you need?"

"They're Noelle's," cut in the first woman, "it's her decision what to do with them."

"Take them, of course," the shopkeeper - Noelle - said at once, "please. Please."

"Why are the streets still empty?" asked Raine.

"Idiots," sneered the first woman, "taking advantage of the chaos."

"The Desians may come back," added the teenager, "the whole city's like this."

"Is this your home?" I asked the first woman. She nodded. "What can I call you? I'm Edie."

"Heather," she said. "You can sleep in the attic, if you want."

"It will have to do," said Raine. "Come on. You should all change and rest."

"When night comes, I'll put on water for baths," Heather offered, "but you'll have to be patient. I only have two washtubs."

"I can help," I said.

"Me too," said Genis, "I can make water and fire."

"You really are the Chosen," said the old man, staring up at Colette with small, watery eyes. 

"I am," Colette agreed, grasping his shaking hands, "I'll get them back, I promise."

"Martel bless you," he creaked. "Bless you."

Lloyd and Kratos went into the other room, and began sorting through what had survived the fire.

Heather, Genis and I started on the baths. I hauled water from the pump in the cellar while Genis got the fires burning. It was getting dark. The smoke wouldn't be so visible at night, but the light of the fire had to be hidden. Some of the younger people pushed shelves and hung blankets over the windows to block out what the curtains let through, and an older woman unearthed a hooded lantern from somewhere among the jam jars. Soon there was boiling water, and people were sent into the washroom in pairs. The teenage girl started frying bread in the hearth.

Heather and I went next-to-last, dumping out the cloudy bathwater and refilling the tubs from the kettles and buckets. There was no use worrying about nakedness here, when everything was just bodies and dirt. The tubs were large enough to sit in with your legs up to your chest, but it wasn't a relaxing kind of bath. I scrubbed at my hair until it squeaked, my skin until it was raw, and my clothes until the grit of salt had gone.

"You're an elf, aren't you?"

Heather was seated on a low wooden stool, wringing out a length of dark brown hair and dripping onto the tile. 

"No," I said, after a moment, "I'm a half-elf."

"And the other two?"

"Elves."

Heather considered me for a moment. "You've got an awful snarl there. I can get it, if you like." I nodded, and sat stiffly as she worked a comb through the knotty mess at the back of my head, gentle but firm. Then she cleared her throat. "We should finish up. Your friends will need bathing."

* * *

We left early, packs weighed down with medicine and bandages and water. No one was in good spirits, and the weather reflected it, grey and dreary and cold. Lloyd's anger had cooled overnight, with Kratos' guidance, and now we marched grimly towards the Ranch. At first we talked about the possible future - how many had been taken? Where would they be? Was this even possible? But soon we lapsed into silence, hearts too heavy with anxiety to make conversation.

It felt very much like a walk to the gallows.

The nearer we got to the ranch, the more the quiet unsettled me. We saw the evidence of camps - the Palmacostan soldiers - but when the ranch itself came into view, there was no sign of conflict or even the prelude to it. The ranch was surrounded on all sides by dense forest, and the facility itself was built on a hill, so that a sentinel on the tallest part of it could see an army from miles away. A small party would be harder to track, but it was still a fortress.

"Where's the army?" wondered Genis, uneasy.

"Hidden in the forest, perhaps?" said Raine, doubtful.

"Be on your guard," warned Kratos. 

"I can scout ahead," I offered, "I'm the only one of us dressed to blend in. I don't like this."

"Be careful," Raine cautioned.

I disappeared into the wood, moving from cover to cover, and into the trees when the path became too exposed. I felt like a lemur or a sugar glider, all limbs and eyes. 

There was no sign of the Palmacostan army. But there was a rear door, roundabout and rarely used, with a keypad and terminal. I perched on a limb somewhere above it, and waited. I didn't dare take too long, because Lloyd's patience was stretched thin as it was, but I remembered this, in a hazy kind of way. I waited five minutes, then fifteen, and was about to call it at thirty when a solitary Desian passed underneath me. 

When I arrived back at the little hidden clearing, the party wasn't alone. 

"Neil?" I asked, dropping down and making Lloyd jump. Neil was standing a cautious distance from Kratos, and looked as if he'd been dragged out of the bushes and roughed up a little. 

"It's a trap," said Raine, "Dorr has no intention of rescuing the hostages."

"He -" Neil cut himself off. "No, he has no intention of rescue. He's ordered us to sit and wait and return in three days time. I think he hoped you would - well. The Desians want the Chosen dead, and Dorr..."

"Where's the army?" I asked.

"A mile east," Neil said, "it's about 300 men, but our weapons..."

"Then we go in anyway, and your men focus on getting prisoners out while we deal with the specifics."

"It would be unwise," Kratos said, "we don't know what Dorr's motivation is, or what he might have promised the Desians."

"The Grand Cardinal had his men search the city for you," Neil said, wretchedly, "Dorr told them of your plans to return once you had reached the second seal, but..."

"We took longer than expected," Raine said, unamused.

"We can't just leave people here," Lloyd said, "We're here anyway!"

"Please," Neil begged, "just go. I'm prepared... _we're_ prepared to take it into our own hands. The men have suspected since the attack, and now... We'll do whatever we can to save our people, but you have to leave. I don't know what's going on in Dorr's mind, but I know you'll never be safe as long as you're near Palmacosta." He straightened, jaw jutting out. "Thank you. For all you've done, and what you'll do. It was - it was an honor to meet you."

"We're not _leaving!_ " Lloyd protested, because he could recognize a last goodbye when he heard it.

"What hope do we have?" asked Raine. "We can't simply walk in the front door."

"We don't need to," I said, "I found the back way in."

"This is foolishness," argued Kratos, "what use are we to these people dead?"

" _No,_ " said Colette, with the same force of will she'd shown back in that crowded kitchen, "I can't just ignore this."

"Colette's right," said Genis, "if we leave things the way they are now, Palmacosta may be destroyed just like Iselia."

"Whatever peace Palmacosta has worked out with the Ranch, it's breaking. You saw those people," I reminded Kratos, "they fought even without us. They'll keep fighting. And if you let the Palmacostan army go in on their own, it'll be a bloodbath."

"I still have to side with Kratos," said Raine, voice tight. "If you don't want to see cities destroyed, you should avoid contact with the Desians."

"A lamb can hardly help it if it's raised next to an abattoir," I argued. 

"We have to help. Regenerating the world and saving the people in front of us are not exclusive of each other. That's what I think," Colette said, neck beginning to turn red at the effort of holding her ground. She wasn't accustomed to arguing, and probably had never defied an authority figure in her life. 

"If that's how you feel, Colette, then we don't have any right to stop you," admitted Raine. "The only one who has the right to make decisions on this journey is you, the Chosen One." She sighed. "Is that alright with you, Lloyd?"

"I would have gone anyway, even if I had to do it alone," said Lloyd. "Remember what I said? I'm going to destroy them all."

"S-still," protested Neil, but he couldn't really fight this, not if Colette had decided.

"I'm in," I agreed. 

"Very well," said Raine, resigned, "then we have two courses we can take. The first would be to go on ahead and infiltrate the ranch... And the second is to confront Dorr. We'll have to do both, eventually, but..."

"We should go in now," I said, "the army can't hold here for four days while we go back and forth."

"Dealing with Dorr first is the logical choice," Kratos disagreed, "better to have more information."

"I doubt Dorr's been in the facility. Even if he's paying off the Desians, he's still human, and he wouldn't go in and get out alive."

"True," admitted Kratos, but only grudgingly.

"We... should take care of things here, first. Dorr can wait. The city's safe for now, but the people in the ranch aren't," said Lloyd. Colette nodded urgently.

"Gather your men," Raine told Neil, "We'll need you to escort any captives. I can't guarantee what will happen, but..."

"We'll be ready," Neil nodded.

"Now," said Raine, turning that hard look on me, "you mentioned a door?"

* * *

"Sorcerer's ring again," I said. "Half of these guys have them. This is bizarre."

"They seem to be common technology," Raine said, "a different design, yes, but..."

"They may be based on the artifact," Kratos suggested. "They were common magical tools, once upon a time."

"This place feels different than the Triet ranch," Lloyd said, frowning. "I mean, it smells different."

"Yeah," said Genis, "it smells kind of like antiseptic. Cleaning fluid," he explained.

The smell intensified the further west we traveled - and we soon saw why. 

The captives lived in their own filth. The cells were probably never cleaned, except for with a hose, and the grated floor was caked in the remains of sewage. There were no proper toilets or even latrines, and no sign that the hosts were fed. Those that had been here longer were gaunt, waxen, covered in lesions and untreated wounds, and those that arrived were still in a state of shock. Their clothing had been discarded and replaced with uniform jumpsuits, and they were all shoeless, which meant nothing good on the metal grating.

 _The exspheres probably keep them alive_ , I thought. _And what matures an exsphere better than suffering?_

"This is..." Colette's voice broke.

"One of us will have to escort them," I said, choked, half by the smell and half by emotion. "I'm nonessential in battle, and I can heal myself. I'll lead them to the gates. You'll have to figure out how... how to burn this place to the ground."

"You shouldn't go alone," said Raine, and paused in thought, "Genis, go with her. We'll carry on here."

"But, Raine," Genis began. She reached out and clasped his shoulder.

"I need you to look after these people, do you understand?"

"Y-yes," he said, nodding. 

"Help me with the shackles," I said, to Lloyd, "and then you should go. Everyone," I said in a voice that carried, "we're here to help. Stay calm, stay quiet, and hold on to someone that you know."

Not everyone was bound - only the most recent acquisitions even required it. The others were too weak to protest. "We'll take it from here," said Genis, putting on a brave face. "Good luck, guys."

"Stay safe," said Raine, with a look at me that was half warning, half pleading.

Then they were gone.

"Okay," I said, into the near-silence, "I'm Edie. This is Genis. This is how it's going to work. Those of you who are still strong enough, find someone who isn't. Kids, stick with at least one adult. We'll move in pairs. Does anyone know how to do a fireman's carry?" A few raised hands. "Do that so you can at least keep a hand free. If you see _any_ sign of danger, call my name, and I'll get to you as fast as I can. You have to rely on one another right now, understand?"

There were nods and murmurs of assent.

"Right."

It didn't take as long as I'd thought to marshal them. The new arrivals outnumbered the others by about a dozen, and family and friends had already found each other. There were at least two hundred people, probably more. I was getting better at teleportation, but even in double file it'd be a long line. I armed three of the strongest with my spare daggers and put each one near the middle of a section, and then I was just delaying the inevitable. 

"Genis," I said, crouching beside him, "whatever happens, you have to _get out_. Everyone needs you. If it comes down to it, collapse the corridors and run. Got it?" He nodded. I ruffled his hair. "Okay. See you on the other side, bud."

It was torture.

We knew the route, but there were a half-dozen intersecting passages, any one of them an avenue of attack. There were blind turns everywhere, so that at any point more than half of the procession was hidden from me. Twice I arrived just as Desians were bearing down on terrified captives - the third time, a woman had already bludgeoned two of them into unconsciousness. Another host had kicked a mage where it hurt, and she'd ripped the helmet off his head and raised hell.

As Desians came and fell, we redistributed their weapons and armor. They wouldn't stand a chance in a frontal assault, or a fair fight, but we had an unexpected advantage - the Desians were bottlenecked. We were everywhere.

Dorr had made false promises, but he'd inspired real bravery.

We wound back through the facility, sluggish, but determined. And then we had reached the entrance, and Neil was there. He'd brought the army.

"We should keep moving," I said, when I'd done a head count, "they're probably going to blow up the ranch."

"What?" said Neil, caught off-guard.

"Come on."

I returned to the rear, sick with worry - had this worked? It felt too good to be true. I watched the soldiers, too, for signs of mutiny, but these weren't faceless mercenaries. They were the friends and family of the captured, and some were weeping freely as they marched. Some were reunited with lovers or children, and others had to suffer, knowing their lost loved ones weren't among the freed. 

There would have to be a census, later. In a city of half a million, two hundred people were a drop in the ocean - but they'd be important. People would have to know what happened in the ranch, or end up like the mayor in Iselia. I wondered what would happen to Dorr. Would he be a casualty in all this, or would he bury his shame and lead the city?

You couldn't tell people the truth, I was sure of that. Dorr - or at least, Dorr's promises - had kept them strong.

We were two miles from the ranch when Raine blew it up.

* * *

"What if they didn't make it out?"

"They did," I reassured Genis. We had fallen to the back of the procession, sure now that the army would see the people back to Palmacosta. We walked hand-in-hand, slowly, in the hopes that the others would catch up. An older boy might have been too embarrassed, but not Genis. Escorting the captives had been a harrowing experience, and a unifying one, and while we hadn't been together, we'd experienced the fear at the same time. We would always be closer, after this.

"What do you think happened?"

"I dunno," I admitted, "but I know they made it out. You know it too, don't you? If Colette was dead, the Tower would be gone."

"Yeah," Genis said, "and Lloyd would never let that happen."

"He wouldn't."

When night came, the Palmacostans, army and fugitives, settled into a sprawling war camp, armed men ringed around the vulnerable and sentries every ten yards. Genis and I needed sleep less than they did, and kept up a post facing northeast, towards the ranch. 

"Look," said Genis, shaking my arm, "Look!"

People crested a distant hill, illuminated in the light of a tall staff. Strange shadows danced around them, so that they looked like spectres or wraiths, but we recognized them. "Send up a fireball," I crowed, hopping up and waving my arms. They had to be a mile off - we were in the flatland of the continent, and it was a clear night - but after a minute, they sent one up in return. 

We raced towards them - I had to shift to lift Genis up before he fell - and met them midway.

They were all gloriously alive.

"You made it," Genis said, throwing himself at Raine, already in tears.

"We saw the explosion," I explained, "he's been worrying all day."

"It's done," said Lloyd, "Magnius is dead and the ranch is gone."

"You got everyone out?" asked Colette, blue eyes glinting in the light of Raine's staff.

"Yep," I agreed, "Neil was there just like he promised. It's not pretty, but..."

"We'll have to do something about their exspheres," said Lloyd, shaking his head, "we can't have... No one should end up like Marble."

"If you write Dirk, we can send it from Palmacosta," suggested Raine. "How long until they become dangerous?"

"It's only dangerous if it's removed, I think," said Lloyd, miserably, "it just makes you sick, otherwise. Yeah. I'll write dad."

"We still have to deal with Dorr," said Kratos, grim.

"Hear me out," I said, "whatever happens with Dorr happens. But the people can't know about this. I talked with Neil. They _need_ to believe in Dorr, even if they're believing in a lie."

"But people deserve to know," argued Lloyd, "we can't just..."

"We can," agreed Raine, still stroking the top of Genis' head, "Yes, that's probably best. Settle it quietly."

"This is... unlikely," I said, after a moment, "but Dorr's daughter, Kilia. She didn't... feel human."

"You don't think she's..." Raine began, searching for the words. "I wasn't paying attention, at the time."

"Disguise that thorough is a rare skill," said Kratos, just short of flat-out disagreement, "let's keep to what we know."

* * *

We left very early, trusting Neil to see the fugitives back safely. If we were fast, Dorr could be dealt with before they even reached the city. 

"I just don't understand why he'd do something like that," said Colette.

"To stay in power," suggested Raine, "the appearance of defiance is easier than the real thing."

"They may have leverage over him," I added, "but if what Neil says is true, the guard are pretty much united against him. I think the revelation that they were called out of the city so it could be attacked hit them hard."

"Dorr's rhetoric certainly inspired bravery," said Raine, "it must have been hard to make that choice. Neil is going to be essential in whatever this city becomes, that's certain."

"But what _is_ it gonna become?" I asked. "Dorr's useful as a figurehead, at least."

"We won't know until we confront Dorr," said Kratos, "there's no use in guessing."

We arrived in the early afternoon to find the city once again alive with people. There was still caution there, in the way people moved quickly from point A to point B without much time for conversation, but the weight of absolute terror had been lifted. There were even children playing in the street, and buskers and panhandlers at work on the curbsides. It was eerie to know that only a few days ago it had been a ghost town.

"They recover quickly," said Raine.

"They'd have to," Kratos pointed out. "This isn't the first raid they've suffered."

"How can people act like nothing happened?" asked Lloyd, visibly upset. "People _died_. People could still die!"

"Do you want them to stop their lives to wail in the streets?" asked Kratos, "Even in loss, the world goes on, and you must move with it or be left behind."

"That's cold," argued Lloyd.

"No, that's true," I said, "you can't feel grief in its fullness, not all the time. It'd destroy anyone." I bumped his shoulder. "The people here will deal with this, but it'll be on their own time and in their own way. You gave them the chance to do that."

"I hope..." Colette began, "I hope they can keep their bravery. I hope they can keep it for themselves, even if something happens to Dorr."

"Yeah," echoed Lloyd, "I hope so."

* * *

Dorr and Kilia sat in the cellar of city hall, hands clasped and eyes fixed on the curtained cell. No one stopped us from going downstairs - what remained of the army had taken up posts at the gates and in main thoroughfares, anywhere that might be a choke-point for a Desian insurgence. Dorr looked like a man sitting with his decisions. Kilia looked absent from her body, expression fixed and vacant.

"Governor-General Dorr."

There was something so pensive and tragic about the scene that only Raine could break the silence. He stood so quickly that it left all the blood behind on the way up - his face was grey and his eyes wide. He took in the six of us, disheveled, Lloyd simmering with anger and Colette's face open and sad and questioning. Raine was chilly, Genis was disgusted, and Kratos an angry stormcloud on the horizon.

"You've returned," said Dorr.

"Your rescue went off without a hitch," said Lloyd, anger boiled down until it was hard and clear and concentrated. "I'm sure you're really happy."

"Where's Neil?" The fear in Dorr sublimated quickly into righteous anger. He looked feral and wolfish in the sparse light. I kept my eyes on Kilia. With her father's back turned, her face was as still as a mask. 

"I'm afraid Neil's not here," said Raine, knowing.

"So." Dorr bit the word off, teeth clenched. "Neil betrayed me."

"You betrayed Palmacosta first," Lloyd objected. "Why would you do something like this? You're supposed to protect the city!"

"Protect the city?" Dorr echoed, "I protect the city. The needs of the many are met. So what if a few suffer?"

"Please," asked Colette, "it doesn't have to be like this anymore. The Ranch is destroyed-"

"Destroyed?" Dorr's voice was a hoarse whisper. " _Destroyed?_ "

"That's... a good thing, isn't it?" asked Colette, flinching back.

Dorr laughed, a humorless series of short, sharp noises that made gooseflesh rise on my neck. "Good? You've damned us! The Ranch was all the hope I had of getting Clara - of getting my _wife_ back, and you've _destroyed it_." He was crying now, but entirely without tears, hunched in grief and fury. It wasn't pleasant to see a man unravel. "Damn you. Damn you."

"We rescued everyone from the Ranch!" cried Genis, "It's not-"

" _Rescued!_ " Dorr shouted, "Clara can't be _rescued_ , she's right _here_ ," he ripped away the curtain of the last cell, still making that awful noise. "See? _See?_ " His hard edges began to dissolve, in the face of what he'd done, and he turned away, crumpling suddenly to the ground in shame and agony. 

Kratos inhaled, short and sharp.

Clara was enormous, twice the height of a grown man, and heaving under her own weight. What must have once been a beautiful dress hung on her now in rags, distended, swollen arms and sunken midriff visible underneath. Her arms hung to the ground, rotten muscle stretched and broken over bone, spurs of calcified tissue jutting out at odd angles. Her legs were bent beneath her, ropes of muscle fraying even as we watched. Her head was a featureless mass of discolored flesh, craned back against her struggle to stay upright. Three spots of yellow, bulging and rimmed at the edges in brown ichor, might have once been eyes.

Genis whimpered and stumbled backwards. "Wh-what's that monster?"

"She's not a monster," I said, surprised to find that I was crying. I couldn't look away. My heart broke over and over again as I looked at her. "Don't say that."

"She's crying. She's crying out in pain," said Colette. "You mustn't call her a monster."

"You don't mean-" Lloyd swallowed down the rest of the sentence. 

"That's right," said Dorr, voice hollow with anguish, "this is what has become of my wife, Clara."

"So that's why you told everyone she passed away," said Raine.

I was still crying. I wiped at my face, trying to breathe, but my nose was clogged and I felt like I might choke. My mind was fuzzy, empty of everything except that overwhelming sadness, and even as I tried to remember who I was, I could see myself looking down through bars, at the top of a blonde head, at the monster pretending to be my daughter. I wanted to die because living was _agony_.

"Breathe." Kratos' hand was on my shoulder, squeezing hard. "She's reaching out to you but you have to breathe, or you'll lose yourself." His voice was low and insistent. Other things were happening - Dorr was speaking again, and Raine asking questions, but all I could focus on was the rasp of air in my lungs, the horrible grief, and Kratos' hand on my shoulder. And then there was a scream, and I was on the ground.

I could feel the stone on my face, and on my side, but I couldn't see. My ears were ringing and someone was screaming, a sound so loud and high that it drove a needle through my brain. The influx of light was interrupted by periods of darkness, and my heart beat. It was the only thing still steady, still real - the thump, thump, thump of blood through my ears and arms and legs. My body was still there, and I knew because I could feel the blood inside it.

Then I entered a place so divorced from reality that I could nearly think. They were only notions, half-formed thoughts that passed over my mind's eye before being forgotten, but they felt like mine. I wondered if everyone was okay. I wondered what had happened. I wondered if I was dead. Was this what it felt like to die?

Light became all dark, for a moment. And then I began to resurface.

There were my hands. There were my eyelids. 

"Edie?"

"She's there," said Kratos, "she's made herself invisible somehow."

"What happened?" Lloyd sounded out of breath.

"Clara was..." Colette began. "She was screaming."

"Whasgoingon," I slurred.

"Edie?"

"Yeah."

"Can you... come back?"

Come back? Yes. I concentrated on the feeling of being me. Who had I been before? Where had my skin gone? My mind was still addled, and when I opened my eyes again I struggled to turn shape-shape-shape into hand, mouth, eyes. "Rnne?" A white shape became hair. Blue became irises. I blinked harder, trying to breathe. "Raine," I repeated, trying to sit up. I felt clammy and awful. "What... what the hell happened?"

"You became catatonic," Raine said, "a while ago. Do you remember?"

I forced myself into a seated position. Raine grabbed my shoulder to keep me vertical. There was blood everywhere, and two corpses - Kilia, the half-elf, and Dorr. Clara had gone. "I thought I was Clara," I said, after a moment. "I mean, I was seeing through her eyes. I couldn't... I couldn't move. What the hell was that? I remember Kratos telling me to breathe, and then I was just dissociating."

Raine looked thoughtful. "It may be that you're very psychically sensitive. I remember the sirens having a strong effect on you then, too."

"Grief is a more potent emotion than desire," supplied Kratos, "if that's the case I'm not surprised that it incapacitated you."

I stared up at them, horrified. "What? Is... can I... that can't be a thing that happens to me. I could get you all killed. That can't happen again."

"No, it can't," agreed Kratos. He paused. "You said once that you've never received formal magical training." He looked at Raine, who inhaled. 

"Yes," she said, "the use of magic... it weakens the borders between the self and reality. Most schools of magic reinforce that boundary in training - mental exercises, meditation - even the magic itself is written in such a way to circumvent that vulnerability. But you've never been taught. Your magic is instinctual."

"Hey," interrupted Lloyd, "we should..."

Raine shook her head. "Of course. We can talk about this later."


	6. Asgard

"Even with training, there's a chance something like that could happen again," Raine said, as gently as she could. "Have you ever tested the limits of your magic? I've never seen you practice it except in battle."

"A-at first," I said, feeling an awful lot like I was getting my annual checkup. "I haven't... been rigorous about it, or anything. It just kind of happened when it needed to happen, and up until yesterday I thought that was fine." I sighed. "That's the problem, isn't it. I've been operating by feel, and yesterday I got a huge dose of _confusion_ and my body just shut down. It didn't know what to do."

"Yes, I think so," Raine agreed. "The invisibility was probably your way of trying to avoid the pain."

"So," I said, picking at a spot on the bed sheet, "what's the diagnosis? Do I have to stop doing magic?"

"Absolutely not," said Raine, "don't be ridiculous, that would only make the situation worse." Raine's eyes had narrowed in a thoughtful, stern way. It was an expression that forecast homework. "I'll compile a list of exercises that you can perform while the children are taking their lessons. You should also be learning rudimentary evocation. I'll see if I have any of Genis' old lesson plans. Kratos also seems to have a decent grasp of elemental casting - I'm sure he could help."

Realization dawned. "Instinct is the problem. Okay. Are you sure you don't mind? That sounds like a lot of extra work."

"It's necessary," said Raine. "And frankly, it fascinates me."

"Oh, I get it," I said, smiling wryly, "it's like when someone discovers a feral child and tries to teach them numbers."

"Well," Raine paused, "yes. It could well be worth documenting."

"I mean, document away," I waved a hand. "I just have to admit I'm... surprised you guys didn't decide to go on without me."

Raine gave me a long look. "Kratos did suggest it. You _would_ be safer here, especially now that the Ranch is destroyed." I nodded. I'd expected that. "But I'm against it. Your... disability, I suppose you could call it, is only relevant in very specific circumstances, and there's no reason you can't learn to overcome it long before it ever becomes a problem. It's not practical to make such an extreme change for relatively minor reasons. Leaving you behind would be a blow to morale, certainly. Genis has become very attached to you."

She was talking too much. Rambling, even.

"Aww," I said, "you don't want to leave me!"

Her cheeks went pink. "I - well, yes. I don't."

"You're adorable," I grinned, "okay, I'll stick around, if it means that much to you."

"Remember that I am assigning your lessons," she said, sourly, "I would watch your tone."

"Does this mean I get to call you Professor now?"

* * *

We didn't stay long in Palmacosta. Lloyd and Colette worried about the aftermath of Dorr's death, and Neil's return, but the Palmacostans would have to figure that out on their own. They were in contact with Dirk, they were home, and that would have to be enough. 

They had survived hundreds of years before us, and they'd survive this, too. I just had to make sure they survived _us_ . If Yuan's plan went through, then all those people, all that _work_ and pain, will have been for nothing.

Everything is for nothing in the end, of course.

"You look like you're trying to lay an egg," said Lloyd.

"Eugh, gross," I wrinkled my nose at him, "Who says that?"

"Lots of people say that," Lloyd said defensively, "anyway, you almost fell into the river back there."

" _Almost_ being the key word."

We were spending our first night back on the road at Nova's camp. Neil had issued us a pass through Hakonesia Peak, and so that was where we were headed. 

Nova was a _real_ researcher, traveling the world with his wife and children. Lloyd and Genis had stayed with them once before, on their flight from Iselia, and Nova welcomed them with open arms. They traveled in a caravan, pulled not by horses but by a pair of fearsome aurochs. The oxen, taller than a grown man and armed each with a pair of razor-sharp horns, were named Lady and Spot. 

"Lady's mine," said the little girl, Mia, "isn't she pretty?"

Lady, who was easily two tons of leathery hide, muscle and instinctual aggression, let out a gust of hot, stinking breath. 

"Yeah," I agreed, "she is." Maybe we could trade Noishe in for one of these.

Nova's eldest, Eli, was telling Raine and the others the story of Aska. They'd seen him in the sky over Ossa trail, bright as the sun, singing with the wind. Mia had seen it too, of course, but she was more interested in telling me about how she used Lady to crack walnuts.

"I tried to do it with watermelons, too," she said, "but they just splat everywhere."

Lady's legs were thick as tree trunks. I wasn't surprised. "You should try macadamia nuts," I said, "they're supposed to be the hardest nut in the world."

"Oooh," Mia looked thoughtfully at Lady, stroking her snout in calm admiration. "I asked dad if we could try geodes, but he says it'd be bad for her feet."

"Probably," I agreed, "and you wouldn't get much out of it, either. You should use a vise, if you've got it. Most of them will crack right in two that way."

"That's how mom does it," Mia said, pouting, "but it's so _boring_."

"The tragedy of adulthood," I nodded, "You know, you can learn to crack walnuts in your bare hands."

Mia's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah, you just need two walnuts. Or a walnut and a stone." I looked down at her hands. "Well, your hands might be a little small, still. There's no trick to it."

"Wait, wait!" Mia scampered off. I watched her go, bemused. And then she came back with her apron skirt full of walnuts. "Mom just has a nutcracker, but that's much cooler. You can show me how, can't you?"

I showed Mia how to align the seams of the two walnuts, the heel of the hand a kind of makeshift anvil, and squeezed. A lifetime of practice, augmented by the strength of an Exsphere, made it look as easy as breaking an eggshell. Mia was horribly disappointed to find that her hand was too small to hold two at once. The alternative was to use a blunt knife. "You should wrap something thick around the hand holding the walnut," I said, "you always have to be very, very careful, even with blunt knives."

" _You're_ not using anything, and your knife's sharp," accused Mia.

" _I'm_ a grown-up, which means when I hurt myself, it's no one's fault but my own. If you hurt yourself, your mom will let Lady trample me. Now, see that bit at the top, where the corners meet? Press it in, _carefully_. Yes, there you go, No, just twist it now. See? That's probably the cleanest way to do it," I said, smiling, "but when you're older you'll be able to do it without a knife at all."

"It's still hard," complained Mia. "I wish I could do it with my hands _now_."

I had an idea. "Just a moment." I rummaged in my pack, and produced two small apples. I could sacrifice them to the cause. "Have you ever split an apple in half with your bare hands?"

By the time dinner was ready, Mia and I were already full off of walnuts and apples.

"It looks like _you_ had fun," said Raine.

"I did," I grinned, "hey, think we can trade Noishe in for one of those aurochs? Ow!"

Noishe had nipped my ankle.

"He can understand you, y'know," warned Lloyd.

"I was only kidding," I pouted, "Noishe is the handsomest and smartest 'dog' in Sylvarant."

"He _is_ a dog," insisted Lloyd.

"I dunno," said Genis, doubtful.

"Maybe we'll run into another Noishe," said Colette, "wouldn't that be nice? Noishe could have a friend! Maybe a girl Noishe would be pink."

Noishe whined, not enjoying this at all.

"I think," said Kratos, "that Noishe may be one of a kind."

* * *

My lessons began our second night.

"Have these read by the end of the week," said Raine, dropping three volumes - two slim, one very large - into my arms, "You'll have to do it on your own time. In the evenings we'll be doing practical work. Kratos has agreed to oversee your basic casting, and Genis will take over when he's working with Lloyd. The primary goal for this week, however, is to determine the scope of your instinctual magic. I think for the time being we should call it 'evasive magic', for want of a better term."

I nodded along, worried that by speaking I may invite more work. 

"Now, have you been able to replicate your invisibility spell?"

"Er, no."

"Hmm. We should start with the teleportation first, then."

"Shift. Er. I think of it as 'shifting'? Or jumping. Like I'm just sliding under the skin of reality towards wherever I'm going."

Raine raised an eyebrow. "Is the terminology important?"

"I guess not," I shrugged, "sorry. What do you want me to do?"

Raine, in the way that some people might reveal a gun, produced a tape measure. It was leather, steel and hand-wound, but unmistakable. "We'll start by testing your range. How is it you decide where you go?"

"It's..." I scrunched up my face. "It's like I pick a place that I can see or know is there and kind of fling myself in that direction."

"Must you be able to see it?"

"I think I have to have seen it, at least," I said, guessing entirely by feel. It was like knowing, without having to see it happen, that jumping from a skyscraper would have a messy end. 

"Interesting," said Raine. "You know, this really is more like a combat arte than true spellcasting. How long have you been able to do this?"

I frowned. "That's... hard to answer." Raine gave me a hard look. I shrugged, sheepish. "Let's say not long."

"And the first time it happened was in a stressful situation."

"Well, yeah, I was getting attacked by a wolf. I guess I'm always at least kind of stressed when I do it."

"Hmm. Well, let's begin here." She looked around before scraping a line into the dirt with her boot. "This will be our starting point. I'll move in intervals of one yard, and we'll keep testing until you can no longer reach me. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Professor."

We moved into position.

"You may go now," said Raine.

"I'm... trying," I said, embarrassed, "it just feels weird to do it for no reason."

"Well, try harder."

There was a minute change in the air, and I was standing beside Raine. I frowned. "Did I walk to you or sh - teleport?" I seemed to remember both at once. 

"You certainly teleported. Interesting. Back to the starting line."

It came easy up to the four yard line, although I felt more and more that sense of deja vu. It wasn't a true memory, only a vague notion that I'd made the same journey once before and had forgotten it. It was an infuriating, ticklish kind of feeling. At five yards, I had a moment of dizziness, but I was still on my feet. Ten yards sent me sprawling sideways, my sense of balance completely shot. 

I groaned.

"Fascinating," said Raine, eyes alight with interest. "Your coordination certainly suffers past a certain point. I'm interested to see if you maintain momentum from one side to the other. Have you experimented?"

"I have," I said, from my spot in the grass, "and I do. Owww."

"Hm. Well, once you've recovered, let's try the same thing but from a running start."

We went on like this for over an hour. It didn't take Raine long to forget that I was a person, and not a lab animal. She built and built to an intellectual euphoria, snapping instructions and taking notes with the fervor of a first-term grad student, eyes sparkling and face flushed. If there had been two of me, she'd have ordered me to shift as high as I could and damn the consequences, just to see what would happen when I hit the ground. It was really very cute.

"Um, Raine," said Genis, "it's getting late and Kratos says-"

"Quiet," barked Raine, "now, again, at a dead sprint."

"Raine," I said, not moving.

"What?"

"You need sleep," I said, conciliatory, "and so do I."

Raine frowned, confused.

"We're traveling? And it's quite dangerous?"

"Oh. Well, of course," said Raine, still as if she didn't quite understand, "right. Well... We'll continue tomorrow. And make sure to do your reading."

I glanced at Genis, who waved urgently at me. I crept after him, as if Raine might leap on me if I moved too quickly.

"You can't let her get too far gone," he said, under his breath, "or she won't act normal again for ages."

"Why do I feel like she might take samples in the night?"

"Well," said Genis, suddenly embarrassed.

"Just as long as it's not teeth," I said, shaking my head. "Anything but teeth."

* * *

"Hey, what are you doing?" Lloyd appeared upside-down in my vision. I was laying with the small of my back on a fallen log, the top of my head touching the ground, and the least horrible of Raine's books in my hands. I'd slept funny and the stretch felt good. 

"Hmm? Reading upside down."

"Why?"

"It keeps all the knowledge in my head. Otherwise it'll fall down into my feet."

"...Huh. Does that really work?"

"Yeah, totally."

* * *

"What the hell is Lloyd doing?"

* * *

"Well," I said, massaging my dominant hand and wincing, "that didn't seem like a good start." Kratos and I had just spent thirty minutes discussing magical theory, and my attempt at a fireball had gone nowhere. The only change was that the palm and fingers of my hand had gone numb and tingly, followed by an unpleasant, greasy feeling, like sticking my hand in hot oil. "Owww."

"You're impatient," said Kratos, arms folded. "Most practitioners practice for years to achieve the most basic level of casting."

"...To be honest, I don't understand why you agreed to do this. Isn't it a waste of time, then?"

"Slow improvement is not the same as no improvement at all."

"No, I mean... Any improvement I show isn't going to be helpful to the group, not in the time we have left. After what happened in Palmacosta... Surely I'm more of a liability than an asset."

"Almost certainly, if one failure can discourage you so easily. You and Professor Sage are the same age," he pointed out, "but only one of you requires such constant affirmation."

"Yes, it's one of my better qualities."

"Do you want to abandon the journey? You _are_ the only one of us without a familial or financial obligation."

"Of course not."

"Then any speculation on your worth or necessity is your concern and no-one else's. If you're determined to learn spellcasting, I can teach you. If you would prefer to navel-gaze then I won't waste my time."

"...You're a nice guy, Kratos."

"..."

* * *

"Colette! Look, in that cart."

"Oh! Look at those little ears! L- oh my!"

"Oh geez, two dogs for the price of one. Aww, they're having such a good-"

"Eeeee!"

"Three dog cart! Three dog cart!"

"Oh my goodness! They're so cute!!" 

"Calm down, you two."

* * *

"Raine says you're trying to learn magic," said Genis, "can I help with anything?"

"Sure! Pull up a bit of ground."

"Ohh, you're reading Naploosa's treatise? I remember that being a difficult read."

"A difficult read for _you_? I might be in trouble, then."

"I mean, I had Raine to help me."

"I wasn't teasing. I'm always surprised by how thoughtful you are for your age."

"I'm not a little kid."

"Hey, think of it like this - I've got ten years of practice on you when it comes to learning, and this stuff makes my eyes water. Being gifted doesn't mean anything if you don't work hard, and you work hard. You should be proud of that."

"Oh. Thanks."

"So, what's all this stuff about 'herein the reluctant inclination' and 'insistent inclination' and 'scales of apothegmatism'? And 'consanguine lineaments'? She goes on about it for like three pages and I don't understand any of it."

"Oh! Naploosa's Substantive Tablature. It's really simple, actually."

"Oh, _really_."

"It's, um, just a second. So if this axis is inclination, then this axis is apothegmatism. 'Consanguine lineaments' just means there's a correlation between one element and another."

"Now, imagine that I have no idea what any of those words mean. I know what a scatterplot is, I have _no_ clue with 'apothe...' that one."

"Um, well, inclination is how well the element maintains stability. Like... water and earth are pretty stable, but fire and lightning are more ethereal. And apothegmatic... it's how much the element is affected by its counterpart. Earth and wind can't really affect each other except in extremes, but water and lightning have a really strong reaction to one another."

"...So she's saying," I tried, "that most element pairs consist of a 'stable' and 'unstable' pair. Like water and lightning or earth and wind. Am I getting that?"

"Yeah! It's a really important basic concept for magic use. Even light and dark isn't really an exception, because light has to be generated while darkness can exist perpetually on it's own. Naploosa was really the first person to describe it."

"She could have said it in fewer words, I think."

* * *

The Hakonesia mountains were beautiful. They cut up from the landscape in white-grey bluffs, rocky and bleak, and climbed the horizon to razorback peaks, blue-white with snow and distance. They divided the northern and southern continents, so that there was no way through except by boat or through the narrow, treacherous mountain path. 

The only trees were enormous, battle-worn evergreens, their leaves so dark green that they were almost black. They were taller than buildings, and their roots carved through the bedrock better than diamond drills. Pine needles littered the ground so thickly that at first I mistook them for grass. Hardy wildflowers colonized the seams of broken rocks, and mushrooms grew in huge shelves on tree trunks. Here and there, hidden in the scenery, were the nests of predatory birds, and the dens of wildcats.

It was late October, and the seaside warmth of Palmacosta was far behind us. It had gotten colder as we traveled north, dewy mornings frosting over white and grey. I liked the cold, but the mountain wind was vicious.

"I-is the whole mountain like this?" asked Genis, pitching his voice to be heard over the wind.

"Probably, yes," said Raine, "and walk closer to me. You should tie your hair back."

"Gahhh!"

"Tuck that thing into your coat if you're going to keep wearing it," I told Lloyd, who kept getting whipped in the face by his own hair ribbon. That was the thing you couldn't see about Lloyd from far away - he had longer hair than you might expect, and while most of it went vertical, there remained a stubborn little tail at the base of his neck, tied in a cloth ribbon. It didn't look as strange as it sounded, and it had been Colette to give him the ribbon, years and years ago.

But now, every bit of loose clothing or length of hair had become a whip. Kratos and Raine wore their hair short, and even they looked like they'd been dragged backwards through a hedge. I'd braided Colette's hair into two little buns at the top of her head, and she had done mine in a kind of crown. Raine had never touched a braid in her life, and Genis had refused to let us go to work on his hair. He was regretting it now.

It was a strange few days - we could hardly make conversation, and at night we were lucky if we could keep a fire going. 

But every bend in the trail revealed a slice of the mountain and sky, of the cream-colored peaks and searing blue heavens, of peach clouds smeared on a purple backdrop, of bluffs painted gold in the dying light, and every time I was sure it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I had grown up in a landscape of yellow-green fields and distant blue mountains, too hilly to ever see more than a mile, and it had been beautiful. The water had been green or brown, flocked with algae and mallard ducks, and the countryside, when I saw it, had been a patchwork quilt of farmland. It was tamed beauty.

This was vast, wild beauty, untamed and untamable, too much space to ever keep your eyes on all of it. You couldn't farm in a place like this - nothing was flat, not even the path, and the stone had never been anything living. 

No, this was capital-r Romantic beauty - nature that had gone on that way for years and years and would go on that way for years and years after anyone was there to look at it. It was the kind of nature that boring people called 'barren', because they didn't see the billion little lives that went on beneath the grainy sand, or beneath the skin of the trees, or in ephemeral puddles of rainwater. I didn't wish for a camera, because it would never be as good as _being_ there.

We traveled together, but the wind stole the air from us and so we also traveled alone. I had to tear myself away at every turn, or stand there forever, hungry eyes on the infinite horizon.

And then we started to descend, to where the trees grew more thickly and the wind no longer tore across the mountainsides, only drifted or breezed or fluttered. It was good, to be able to talk, and to be able to feel my hands, but I also missed how the wind had made me deaf, and the cold had made me numb, so that my sight had opened up as a great empty well. I'd _seen_ , in the way you could only really hear in total darkness.

The feeling wore off, though. Traveling alone is only fun when you know there's somewhere with people to go back to.

* * *

We reached Asgard on a blustery afternoon. Bluster was all the wind seemed to do around Asgard. It wasn't the dangerous, piercing wind of the mountain, but a wind that sounded like _foom-foom-fwip-fwoom_ and felt like a herd of cats trying to trip you up. Here and there in open spaces miniature cyclones, barely strong enough to lift a leaf, would whip up and spin into nothingness in a matter of seconds. You wouldn't be losing any roof tiles, but you'd have to be careful how you hung your laundry.

The city had been, first, carved into the hillside, and then built outward with the same stone. Even the smallest wooden buildings had a wall or two of stone, or a doorway, or a pillar, some memory of when wood had only been for burning. There was new stone, too, shipped in from somewhere else, but the bones of Asgard were grey and harder than granite. 

The ruins sprouted from short, dense turf, or hung over unassuming shopfronts, the edges worn smooth with time, moss and lichen laying like a blanket over everything. There were trilithons with lintels ten yards wide, fallen obelisks and pillars like the legs of giants, standing free and straight even now. Here and there were the mouths of natural caverns, braced open with hardwood logs and hung with signs that said things like ' _Walk Carefully!_ '

To the north of the city was a crevasse, so deep and dark that it might have gone on forever. Rope fencing was all that kept tourists from toppling over the edge, and even that was broken or missing in some places. 

The pilgrims hugged the solid side of the stone paths, but the locals were fearless. They took the handbreadth walkways and narrow little bridges and hopped little cracks in the hillsides. All over were little cottages and wooden bungalows, porches and stairwells leaning out over the yawning canyon. Some leaned so far out that they had to be tethered to strong rope, the rope tied to enormous iron eyelets hammered deep in the rock. 

It was an acrophobe's nightmare.

We took two rooms at the Vortex Inn, the smallest of the three in town. They had a boiler for bath water and we went in our customary rotation. There was nothing nicer than a bath after travel, no matter how small the washtub or how hard the soap.

"This is nice," I said to Raine, regarding the ceiling while my hair dried, "we should check out the caverns today."

"Yes, that'd be ideal," Raine agreed. "If there's sunlight left, I'd like to take the mountain path and see the dais. If it really is the seal, we might have a unique opportunity on our hands."

"Is it me, or is the mood around here kind of weird?"

Raine paused. "I suppose it's much quieter than Palmacosta. Perhaps that's what you find off-putting."

"Maybe," I agreed.

At Raine's insistence, we went to the dais first. The caverns were lit with lanterns until later in the evening, but the dais was out under open air, and the area around it was dangerous to navigate in darkness. 

The path to the dais was gated by three trilithons, each one at least five yards across. The steps began at the base of a mountain swell and climbed steeply upwards, like one side of a massive pyramid. The steps were tall and shallow, impossible to climb without looking where you were going, and in places so worn down by feet that they became a ramp. Low, wild hedges and clusters of little purple wildflowers grew in the turf to either side. A lone goat grazed, not far from the path, and watched us as we passed.

"Why are its eyes like that?" Lloyd asked.

"They're prey animals," I said, "it gives them a wider field of vision."

"Why... does that matter?"

"So they can see predators coming from all sides. That's why prey animals have eyes at the sides of their heads, and predators have forward-facing eyes."

"And some have vertical pupils," added Genis, "like cats and snakes."

Lloyd considered this. "It'd be pretty cool to have cat eyes. I bet you could see in the dark."

"You'd look stupid with cat eyes," said Genis.

"I'd look awesome with cat eyes!"

"Hey," I said, hesitantly, "are Katz..."

"One of the great biological mysteries," said Raine. "Pity they don't allow anyone to study them."

"What? They're just people in costume!" argued Lloyd.

"Nuh-uh," said Genis, "then why do their tails move?"

"I have to believe they're in costume," I said, "or else why..."

"Some things are better left unexamined," said Kratos.

The summit revealed itself soon after, the earth falling away below us as the sky opened up above. 

"Ohhh, it's _beautiful!_ "

The ruin was, as Raine said, very pretty, in a stark kind of way. The platform was convex, bowing outward, and made of very smooth greenish-grey rock. There was only one very shallow step at what was hip height on a grown man, and above that the zenith, at least six feet from the ground. If you stood on the step you could see the design of a runic circle, maybe ten yards in diameter and very ornate. Four statues stood on the four corners, each of a different winged woman about to take flight.

Raine breathed in deep the heady perfume of _old stuff_ , and turned to us. "Lloyd, state the history of this ruin."

Lloyd, who had been taking in the landscape beyond the mountain, looked up in fear. "Er... Well, It..." He trailed off. Genis picked up the answer with the air of a lecturer.

"It's the temple where Cleo III held a ritual to offer a sacrifice to the Summon Spirit of Wind in order to quell a storm that had raged for a week."

"Yeah," said Lloyd, nodding, "that."

"Gah! Have you learned _anything_ at all these past five years?"

"PE and Art and-"

"Never mind!" Raine turned on her heel to admire the platform, reverently tracing every line of its construction with eyes and hands. "What perfect form! The delicate curve is said to express the flight of the Summon Spirit of Wind through the sky. In addition, it's said that this stone is infused with a large volume of mana, and at night emits a faint luminescence. 

"Although currently, due to the world's mana shortage, the mana infused in the stone is also said to be fading. When the mana infused in the stone evaporates, it emits a unique aroma. This is what is commonly known as the 'Filament Effect'." 

I tried to discreetly sniff the air, noting absently that both Lloyd and Kratos had wandered off.

"Ugh, she'll be going on like this forever," muttered Genis.

"I think it's really interesting!" said Colette.

"Along with the aroma, the mana also causes a sparkling effect. It's thought that the mystique created around this stone dais can be attributed to this Filament Effect. Humans and elves alike have a very subtle instinctual reaction to ambient mana, and often are affected by it without realizing. In most cases -" Like a cat hearing a can opener, Raine went very still. Had she been a cat, her ears would have canted this way and that, attenuating to that very particular sound. And then she vaulted over the top and disappeared.

"Uh," I said, peering over the dais to see Raine, a flash of orange, come to stand at the far edge, arms waving and cloak billowing. I could hear her shouting, although most of it was lost in the wind. "Should we be... helping her?"

"I'd be more worried for whoever she's yelling at," said Genis, anxiously, "she had that look in her eyes-"

"It may be better to stay out of it," said Kratos, caught somewhere between resignation and amusement.

"You there!"

An old man, hunched and bony, was ascending the stone steps with alarming speed, followed by two young men who hovered to either side like spotters ready to intervene if something went wrong. The old man was expensively dressed, in a long tunic with metallic embroidery, a lavender skull cap and very clean leather moccasins. His cane was ornately carved, with a steel end cap, although it was not currently being put to its intended use. Instead, he was waving it in the air, blue-faced with anger.

"Trespassing in this area is forbidden!"

* * *

Raine got an explanation out of Harley and Linar, in the end. It was hard to keep things from Raine when she was in that particular mood, and Linar didn't have much of a spine to begin with. Aisha was very calm, considering she was due to die tomorrow.

The Ritual of the Four Winds had once been a bloodless rite of honor. Old women passed the ritual dance onto young ones, and it had once been the centerpiece of the harvest-close. As the wind blew away the ghosts of fall, the dancer paid tribute to Sylph, so that she might bless the winter to come. Bad winters were the things that felled cities and killed infants in the cradle, but Sylph had always been kind. It never snowed in the Asgard valley.

Linar had been blamed for the monster, but it was the council of elders that kowtowed to it. Aisha was Linar's sister, and friends with the half-elf Harley, and so a natural choice for the sacrifice.

I returned to the inn with Lloyd, Colette and Genis a little while after the sun had set. Kratos arrived soon after, slightly dazed, with news that Raine would be spending the night at Aisha's house. Genis and Colette worried, especially, but Kratos reassured them that, when he'd seen her last, Raine had been in high spirits.

Very high.

It wasn't until early morning, when Asgard began to stir in anticipation of the ritual, that we saw Raine again. 

"It's the rational solution," she said primly, brushing imaginary dust from the front of her bodice. "If it is the seal guardian, we should be able to tell."

The ritual costume, tailored to Aisha, fit awkwardly on Raine. Raine was taller, and not so well-endowed, but she was the kind of person who would look pretty even in nothing but rags and dirt. 

A crowd was gathering, drawn not only by morbid fascination, but by the news of a change in dancers. They crowded the summit, nervous to be too near the dais but eager not to miss anything exciting. Most of the townspeople wore traditional garb, in the spirit of the holiday, but a few were dressed in anticipation of a day of work, once the whole blood sacrifice business was over with. There were tourists, too, pilgrims with their guides, here for the spectacle of _whatever_ was about to happen.

"You just wanna see the ruin firsthand," accused Lloyd.

"You should really learn to keep your mouth shut," said Genis, once the sound of impact had stopped echoing. 

"We should be ready, in any case," said Kratos. 

Raine took the stage, silver hair shimmering in the grey dawn. She carried a staff - not the one she used in battle, but a ceremonial staff with a top like a fiddlehead fern - and spoke to the audience in a clear, commanding voice: "Great Sylph, bringer of the four winds, we ask that you honor us." And then she began to move.

Dance wasn't the right word for it. Raine moved stiffly from point to point on the runic wheel, waving her arms and tapping the butt of the staff on the stone. Some of the locals were muttering, not in anticipation, but in amusement, so Raine's interpretation of the dance must have been very singular. Raine's expression was one of grim focus, which only made the dance look more awkward.

Raine's performance might have been wanting, but the magic of the ritual was catching. The runic circle began to glow - dimly, at first, and then the most brilliant blue-white light, spears of it arcing high in tight spirals. The air constricted around the platform, wisps of low cloud whipped into a cyclone. Scarves flew, coats billowed, prayer books scattered the wind like fleeing birds, and people screamed.

 _I have come for the girl_.

At the eye of the storm was a monster, vaguely reptilian, tall and winged, with long arms of bare muscle terminating in enormous claws. Its torso morphed from something organic to the shaft of a huge, pendulous blade, bigger than a person and wreathed in a haze of blue-green magic. Raine's cap caught on the breeze and flew out into the crowd. I didn't hear Colette, but I saw her shoot up from the ground, chakrams already flying.

I mounted the dais, muscling through an invisible wall of wind and into the strange vacuum of the runic circle. Lloyd, Kratos and Genis were close behind Colette, deterred only a moment by the barrier before spilling out into the battlefield. 

Fighting monsters was different than fighting people or even beasts. If you chopped off a man's arm, he was probably down for the count. If he didn't bleed out, the pain and shock would knock him unconscious. If you lopped a limb off a monster, it was an even chance that they'd ignore it or grow it back. That was because monsters weren't alive in the same way people or animals were.

Human bodies were organic. The stuff that made up a person was, for the most part, tangible and stable. We produced the mana we needed to live as part of cellular respiration, and that was it. Monsters were euchariphages - unstable parasites held together by magic, incapable of producing their own mana but needing huge quantities to live. In the absence of mana, a monster was little more than a shell. That meant the only way to really kill a monster was to exhaust it.

It wasn't easy. Some leeched it from the bodies of their opponents, some from the air, from some other magical source - but most you could overwhelm with force until what they took in was less than what they output. They might have been magical, but they lived in a world of the real, and every second in that world cost them. 

They weren't even technically evil or bad. In times of plenty, they could even be docile, happy to survive off the ambient mana of the land. But in a mana shortage, they had to become predators. Human and animal bodies were excellent sources of mana, after all, and most monsters operated on little more than instinct. It took a really clever monster to set itself up as a deity - to get the food without the work.

Reading Naploosa's Treatise hadn't made me _better_ at killing monsters, but at least now I knew why it was so annoying.

I'd been practicing what I called ' _the Nightcrawler_ ' tactic - grabbing something, zapping myself as far up into the air as I could go, and letting it fall - but that wasn't much use against something that could fly. I only had one other tactic, and that was ' _hit it a lot with a dagger'_ '. That one usually worked, even if it took a little longer.

This thing might have been big and clever, but we had the advantage on sharp edges.

Lloyd struck the killing blow - a serpentine movement beneath a swiping arm and a flash of steel into the space below its ribcage - and then it was over. The whole thing took maybe a minute.

A cache of stolen things fell from the place where the monster had been, clinking dully over the stone as the wind died. A few coins rolled away and into the turf. Raine selected a worn stone tablet from a pile of tarnished jewelry, turning it over in her hands. She seemed to know what it was, even if no one else did.

The remaining spectators cheered. 

Aisha, Linar and Harley were among them.

"Fantastic! You're fantastic, Raine!" Linar gushed, cheeks pink from cold and adoration.

"Hah," she said, dropping from the dais with the air of a queen, "it was hardly a challenging opponent. Now, more importantly, about this stone tablet," she waved it in the air, "it has ancient Balacruf writing inscribed on it."

I looked around for the dancer's cap, but it had been torn clear off the mountaintop. Oh, well, they'd have to make another one.

"Let's decipher it right away!" said Linar, glowing with enthusiasm, and damp with excitement, "I have the necessary materials assembled in my house."

"Yes, let's go!"

Then they were gone, leaving us alone with the small crowd of spectators.

"Um," said Aisha, dragging her eyes from the shrinking shape of her brother, "thank you very much."

"That thing wasn't the Summon Spirit of Wind after all, was it?" asked Harley, expression bitter.

"I bet Raine and Linar will investigate what it really was," said Genis.

"Yeah," Harley admitted, "that Raine is a half-elf, after all. You can count on her wisdom."

"Raine and Genis are elves," I interrupted, before Genis could stammer out a contradiction. I gave Harley a hard, meaningful look. "You and I are the only half-elves around here." Harley held my stare for a moment, eyes flicking between Genis and I, before his face settled into the ghost of a smile. He nodded.

"Ah, actually, I guess I was wrong. It seems you two are pureblooded elves. I must not have been paying careful attention."

"Happens to the best of us," I said. Genis was still frozen in place, eyes shivering.

"We should get some rest, too," announced Lloyd, oblivious to our exchange, "I'm exhausted."

I hung back with Aisha and Harley, watching as life resumed in the city below.

"I'm sorry about that," I said at last, "Genis and Raine come from a small town, I think. They're pretty defensive about it, especially Genis. They don't mean any harm."

Harley nodded. "Yeah, I get how that is. If I didn't have Aisha and Linar-" he cut himself off. "I get it."

"Thanks." I paused. "Any chance you two want to grab something to eat? I have a feeling Linar and Raine are gonna take a while."

Aisha and Harley shared a look. "Sure," said Aisha, at last. "I'd like that."

* * *

There weren't restaurants in Asgard, per say, but there were a few pubs and plenty of shops that sold things like kebabs or rolls. We went to a pub nearer the poorer part of town, on account of Harley being unwelcome at upscale establishments. 

"Is it really that bad being a half-elf here?" I asked, frowning.

"Well," Harley frowned, too, "Not really. I was kind of...friends with some bad people, growing up. I didn't make a lot of good choices."

Drinks came, followed by enormous soup-bowls and slices of dense brown bread studded with seeds. The bread was hard, and the stew was mostly barley and onion with a _hint_ of beef, but it was good, hot food with plenty of salt and grease. 

"You still make bad choices," scolded Aisha. "Think what would have happened if you'd blown up the dais!"

"It would have been worth it," said Harley, but without much heat. 

"In an ideal world, you wouldn't have to make those choices," I said, leaning on a hand. "For what it's worth, I'd have done the same. But I'm not very spiritual."

"Sure would be nice to live in an ideal world," scoffed Harley.

"I'm glad it all worked out," said Aisha, diplomatically.

"What is it you two do, if you don't mind me asking?" 

"I do piecework," said Aisha, "seamstressing, mostly."

"I work seasonal," said Harley, grimacing, "right now I'm scutching at Baker's mill. It's not hard, it's just boring." He caught my look. "It's cleaning seeds out of cotton. You have to get the seeds out before you can spin it. Baker just buys up big bales of raw stuff and it takes a while to get all the leaves and dirt out."

"That's gotta be hard on your hands," I said.

Harley shrugged. "It's not so bad."

"What about Linar?"

Harley snorted. Aisha shook her head. "Linar tutors a few students in town, but mostly he stays home and works on his little... projects. What about you? I mean, what did you do before you came here with your... friends?"

"Er, bartending. Since I was eighteen, actually."

"How'd you end up here, then?" asked Harley.

"Good question," I laughed. "I don't really know. It's better than bartending, at least."

"Maybe I should try traveling," joked Aisha. "You seem to be getting along well."

"Yeah, it's not bad. We have a habit of finding trouble, but I guess that comes with the territory."

"That was some fight," said Harley, "I dunno what I expected. Still, if it had come down to it, we would have figured out a way to deal with it."

"You would have," I agreed. 

It was a good afternoon.

Raine still hadn't returned when I did, so I took a detour to see more of the city - in particular, the caves.

The city was nothing like one in celebration - in fact, the mood was listless, bordering on glum. Those who had seen the chaos on the mountaintop were few and far between, so that by lunchtime it had the taste of an urban legend. All that anyone knew for sure was that the sacrifice hadn't happened, and that all in all the day had been a major anticlimax. 

People were happy no one had died, of course, but it was a bit of a disappointment after all that buildup.

Public executions, whippings, and sacrifices were the sort of thing that made civilized people put their foot down - but not too hard, in case they stomped on someone's toes. It was very close quarters in a mob or crowd, especially if there was a chance of seeing something _really_ morally objectionable. 

The caverns were busy. People had to do _something_ interesting today.

There were three accessible to the public, low and long, with fencing set up near the edges of the platform to discourage people from touching the artwork. Lanterns bathed each room in dreamy orange light, so that some stretches of wall were brightly illuminated and others fell sharply back into shadow. Each ran back at least thirty yards. The lowest of the three was much longer, but the furthest reaches had been blocked off. The caverns were dim, dry, and full of never-ceasing echoes.

I'd misunderstood what they meant by 'cave' - these were clearly man-made, right angles and dirt floors bored out of natural formations long, long ago. 

I'd been to a reproduction of the Lascaux caverns once, in college. The sense of history had been overwhelming - here was evidence that generations of people had lived and made art and told stories, and had done so in one place a thousand years. Granddaughter after granddaughter had grown up seeing the work of her foremothers, and some would go on to leave pictures of their own. 

The cave paintings felt alive. They were full of movement - the movement of an aurochs about to charge, the cheerful gait of a plump horse - they were drawings of things that the artist had really _seen_. Little pictographic men had chased prehistoric swine. Gazelles leapt from danger. A hundred hands overlapped in silhouette.

The Asgard caves were very different.

The art here was balanced, deliberate, and compartmentalized. Patterned borders framed scenes rendered in consistent styles - peasants tilling land, a king on his chariot, a priest paying tribute to a god. Here and there plaques gave descriptions like ' _Cleo the First appeases the Summon Spirit of Wind'_ and ' _the third king of Asgard raises forces against the southern incursion'_. 

I didn't pretend to know anything about restoration, but it looked like the caves had seen extensive retouching. Clay, darker and smoother than the chipped stone, had been used to obscure areas of relief carvings, like wax in a marble statue. Other sections of illustration were a hodgepodge of mediums, and one area, depicting a pilgrimage to the land of Kharlan, had very fresh paint.

"There were once tunnels," an attendant told me. He was very old, and had the admirable job of sitting on a length of fence and shouting at anyone who touched the wall. "A whole city hidden in the mountain. If you rappel down into the gorge, you can see some of the old doorways, you know. Yes, the Asgard you see today is a fraction of what it once was."

"What happened?"

"Plenty of things," he said, "war, and earthquakes, but mostly war."

Soon it was late, and Raine still hadn't come back.

"We're gonna have to go get her," grumbled Genis.

When we arrived at Aisha's, Raine was at the table with Linar, bright-eyed and manic. I hoped she had remembered to eat. 

"Good timing. I just finished deciphering it."

"The Professor is amazing," agreed Linar, "She deciphered the complex Balacruf writing in no time at all!" 

"Looks like Raine just got another fan," muttered Genis, not quite under his breath.

"She's quite the catch, huh?" said Lloyd, brightly.

"Uh-huh - owww!"

"It would appear that the monster was the cause of a calamity that afflicted the ancient Balacruf Empire," said Raine, as if nothing had happened. "It seems that the summoner at the time used Sylph, the Spirit of Wind, to seal it away, then built the stone dais to suppress the calamity. This map is a form of insurance against the calamity. It shows the location of Sylph, and by extension the seal of wind."

"After a great many years," continued Linar, "people began to confuse the calamity with the Summon Spirit of Wind."

"So we know where we have to go now, right?" prompted Genis.

"Yes," agreed Raine, eyes sparkling.

"Wow! I wonder what the Summon Spirit of Wind is like," wondered Lloyd, "I can't wait to see it!"

"Back on the regeneration train," I said, miming a train whistle, and realizing far too late that trains weren't really a thing in Sylvarant. 

Aisha came to my rescue, quite on accident. "Regeneration," she repeated, "Now that I think about it, what was your purpose for coming to this city? Edie said you were traveling, but... You don't look like ordinary travelers or tourists."

Kratos, always polite, ignored her. "If you know our next destination, we should be on our way at once."

"Yes," Raine agreed, single-minded in the pursuit of old stuff, "It's likely that the seal is inside the Balacruf Mausoleum."

"Okay," grinned Lloyd, "let's get going!"

"We should spend the night, at least," complained Genis. "We _have_ rooms."

"Ah, um," Aisha began, unsure if she was being ignored on purpose or by accident.

"Please take care," said Colette, hurrying after Lloyd.

The others followed, so that I was once again left behind. I shook my head. "Sorry about them. They're like ducklings."

"Why... _are_ you traveling?" asked Aisha again.

"I don't think I'm allowed to tell you," I said, apologetically. "But really, look after each other."

"We will," agreed Harley. "You look after our blood, yeah?"

"Yeah," I agreed. Then my eyes caught on something strange. "...Hey, what's that?"

It was wedged on a shelf between stacks of books, half-hidden by a potted plant, but it was clearly a phonograph. There was even a brass handle and a spot for you to put the wax cylinders. I had seen all kinds of things in Sylvarant, but I was _sure_ they didn't have phonographs. It shouldn't have looked so out of place, but it looked new and shiny and polished. 

"Hmm?" said Linar, "Oh! It was just sitting there one day - strange, really."

I frowned harder. It _felt_ wrong. "Can... I see it?"

"Sure, go ahead."

I reached out.

It erupted into a cloud of smoke.

" _GREETINGS!"_

* * *

"What was all that yelling?" asked Lloyd, goggling at me, "And why are you holding all that stuff?"

"The, uh," I fumbled, and an onion rolled away across the dirt. "The Wonder Chef?"

There was a collective sigh, equal parts sympathetic horror and selfish relief. 

There was no magic in the world that could prepare you for a fully-grown man with a voice like a thunderclap and a fork as tall as he was. And where had he gotten the food? One moment his arms had been empty and the next he was forcing all of _this_ on me. I was still in a state of shock. Images of beefsteak chunks and carrot medallions danced across my vision. I could still hear the sizzling.

"I guess we're having something new tonight," suggested Genis. "It's best to get it out of your system."

"Yes... it's cathartic," Raine agreed.

"I thought you were _joking_ ," I cried.


	7. Seal of Wind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things begin to go off script, but only slightly.

It was a long road to the Mausoleum. 

From Asgard, we traveled due east. The earth had frozen, and the landscape was an expanse of grey and yellow.

The land here was low and flat, the horizon cut out of the sky by mountains on all sides. Farther out, we passed the rocky coastline. There were bouts of sleet and freezing rain, and days where it snowed fat, slow flakes, but none of it ever gathered on the ground. There was hard frost in the morning, and a bitter chill at night, but most days hovered well above freezing. It was the kind of weather you preferred to witness from underneath a blanket.

You weren't supposed to travel in winter, not when your best pick at transportation was a horse and carriage, but it couldn't be helped.

Midwinter - a kind of solstice celebration - came and went on the road.

"It's strange to think we've been traveling so long," said Raine, nibbling at the candied peel that she'd saved for the occasion. There was a little bit of spiced wine, too, but the centerpiece of the evening was an enormous grouse. Kratos had caught it, I'd plucked and gutted it, and Genis had cooked it. It was a good night, too, clear and not too cold. The fire sizzled as fat dripped from the turning bird. Rounds of fried bread lay steaming on a tin plate, and a jar of mulberry jam was open next to a knob of cheese.

"Since my birthday," said Colette, playing with an unshelled walnut, "that's nearly four months!"

"It's a lot of traveling," I agreed. "You've crossed one and a half continents!"

"It's been really fun," she said, "I wish I could do this forever."

"Why not?" asked Lloyd, grinning, "once the world is regenerated, we can travel it all over again, but without all the fighting." 

Everyone but Genis and Lloyd went quiet. Lloyd, picking at a bony bit of meat, didn't notice, but Genis frowned.

"It's a beautiful night," I said into the heavy silence, "I wish I knew more about constellations."

Genis brightened. "I can name all of them! You can actually use them as a form of wayfinding. It used to be common at sea, until more precise methods of measurement were devised. Some smaller vessels still navigate by the stars, but most people nowadays use a lodestone and compass alongside a nautical map. Cartographers -" Lloyd yawned pointedly. Genis kicked him, blushing. "Shut up, it's interesting!"

"Boys," said Raine.

"What's that one? I saw a drawing of it in Asgard."

"That's Thor's Hammer," said Genis, recovering, "it was supposed to be so heavy that no one could lift it."

"And that one?"

"That's Mithos' Lance," he said, frowning. "You don't know that one? It points north!"

"You don't hear me criticizing _your_ education."

"Hey, aren't you from around here?" said Lloyd, clearly proud of himself for remembering.

"That's what I said," I agreed, sanguine. "It's beautiful here, isn't it? In its own way."

Raine didn't miss the careful obfuscation.

"Genis said you were copying down childhood stories," she said, "maybe we can prevail upon you for one or two. Storytelling _is_ a Midwinter tradition."

Genis brightened. "Oh, yeah! I never got to read any."

"I'd like to hear a story," agreed Colette. 

I looked to Kratos. Surely _he_ 'd object.

"It is tradition," he said, with just a sliver of a smirk.

I sighed, smiling. "My family used to go person by person. You can tell the next story," I promised him, crossing my ankles and thinking. "Do you want a nice story or a scary story?"

"Nice!"

"All right. Once upon a time, on a pillar above a great city, stood the statue of the Prince. He was beautiful. His eyes were sapphires, a ruby shone in the hilt of his sword, and he was covered all over in leaves of gold. The people of the city called him 'The Happy Prince'. 'He's beautiful as a weathercock!' said a city councillor, who wanted to be known for his taste in art, 'but not as useful', he added, because he didn't want the people to think him impractical. He wasn't."

* * *

"How's that a nice story?" demanded Lloyd.

"What? They're together in heaven!"

"You need your head looked at," said Genis.

"Everyone's a critic," I sighed. "Kratos can go next."

"...Very well. Hmm." Kratos thought, and then spoke, voice low and smooth. "Once upon a time... there was a girl, who had been imprisoned in a tower. She sang so sweetly that birds stopped to listen, and that flowers turned their heads to hear. One day, late in summer, a prince rode by, and heard her song..."

* * *

"Why do all these stories end with everyone dying?" asked Lloyd. "That was really sad! The prince's brother was awful, too! Why didn't he want his brother to be happy?"

"Jealousy, I'd imagine," I said.

"I wish they could have just had a happy ending," Lloyd groused. 

Kratos said nothing, only stared into the fire.

"That's how fairytales tend to go," said Raine. "Maybe you'd like to go next."

"You know what, I will! Okay." Lloyd thought hard. "Once upon a time, there was a swordsman who lived in the woods. He had a dog - no, a horse - that was ten feet tall and could run as fast as the wind. ...One day, he got a - um... a letter, from the Queen, telling him he had to show up and do some stuff for her. But the Queen was evil, see? So the swordsman had an idea..."

* * *

"I didn't follow that at _all_ ," complained Genis.

"I liked the part where he made friends with the dragon," I offered, "I got confused when the horse started talking."

"Wh - fairytale animals talk!"

"He didn't talk until the last part," accused Genis, "and you can't make a horse the king, anyway."

"All right, smarty-pants, then _you_ tell one."

Genis blushed. "Fine! I will. Um... Okay. Once upon a time, there was nothing. No sand, no sea, no heaven or earth. Instead, a long time before the earth was made, Niflheim was made, and in it there was a spring. In the south there was Muspell, which was always hot, and to the north there was Ginnungagap, which was always cold. Where the warm air met the ice, it melted, and the water formed a man. That was Ymir."

* * *

"That was one of your favorites as a child," said Raine, smiling. "I'm glad you still remember it."

"The Ymir Forest from legend is supposed to have grown from Ymir's heart," Genis added brightly. "And some later stories say that the Summon Spirits are pieces of Ymir's soul."

"How come they all killed each other so much? They were all related!" whined Lloyd. "They could have just got along."

"It's _mythology_ ," said Genis, sourly. "Anyway, that's mine."

"Can I go next?" asked Colette. 

"Yeah!" 

"Okay! Once upon a time, on a big hill by a big river, lived... a very good dog, named Morrie. He was brown, with a splotch of white right here that was just so cute. But... he was very lonely! He had a nice house, with a little garden, but he was all alone. And the fish didn't want to play with him, because he couldn't breathe water, and the plants were all... busy! But then one day, he saw a cat! She was sitting on the other side of the river. But the river was too big to cross... and she was scared of water..."

* * *

"...And then they all had a big party with balloons and cake, and Morrie even brought a big fishbowl up so the fish could enjoy it, too. The cat turned out to be really good with the violin after all, and no one ever used the catapult ever again. The end."

"What happened to the talking egg?" asked Genis, fascinated despite himself.

"Um, well, she hatched, and became a beautiful bird! She didn't have to worry about homework ever again!"

"...And the umbrella?" prompted Kratos.

"The umbrella was actually the cow's husband, but he'd been turned into an umbrella by the old mouse! It all turned out okay," beamed Colette. 

"That was probably the best story I'd ever heard," I said, "tough act to follow, though."

Raine winced. "Surely we've all heard enough stories for one night."

"Oohh, Professor, please?" begged Colette. "I'd love to hear you tell a story!"

Raine's face contorted in thought.

"Once upon a time there was a... frog. And one day she came upon a pillar hidden in the... mud. On the pillar was a series of continuous helical friezes, depicting the victory of the... er. Hedgehogs of Balacruf over the badgers of Hima. The structure was about thirty-three yards high and four yards in diameter. Upon unearthing the pillar, the frog discovered that it in fact depicted two separate campaigns of the hedgehogs against the badgers. Then the frog discovered contemporary coins, which suggested..."

* * *

"But unfortunately, the acidic environment eventually began to degrade the artwork. Luckily, the frog and the frog's friends had taken plaster casts, preserving examples for study and future research. The frog's work went on to inspire a new era in archaeological restoration. The end."

The fire, banked and smoldering, smelled of cedar and pine needles.

"I suppose it _is_ quite late, but it's bad for digestion to fall asleep right after eating."

* * *

Balacruf Mausoleum shone white under the winter sun. The pale marble was dusted with grey moss, and birds' nests were hiding in the shadows of columns and the seams between the brickwork. It was a ziggurat, larger than Ur. It must have been taller, once, but now it was sunken sideways into the soil. Raine said that there had been underground passages here, too, but even that was before Spiritua's time. 

The wind came down the mountainside and carved rivers in the dusty earth. Cyclones, stronger than the ones in Asgard, kicked up and died down like waves cresting suddenly out of still water. 

"Ugh, why's this whole place so windy?" complained Lloyd.

"It's the _wind seal_ ," said Genis, "this whole region's under the influence of Sylph."

"It'd be nice in the summer," I offered.

"That should be the entrance," said Raine, ignoring us, "climb the central stairway and offer the map at the altar."

Colette nodded, braided pigtails bouncing in the breeze.

The entryway was a short collonade terminating in a stone archway. Like the door at the Triet ruins, the door here was made of something other than marble, and emblazoned with Colette's family crest. 

As she approached the pedestal, a few yards before the door, a slab at the top split and slid aside, revealing a narrow depression.

"It seems to be responding to the Map of Balacruf," said Raine, a dangerous interest in her voice. 

Colette fiddled with the tablet for a moment, before inserting it into the depression like a cartridge into an N64 - I snorted, and then muffled the sound into a cough, because no one else seemed to find it funny. There was a pause as the tablet settled into place, then a hollow click and a distant chime. The pedestal gave off a sudden light, like a flashbang. I blinked hard, sunbursts swimming in my vision.

"It's an oracle stone," cried Genis, bouncing on his heels. Colette pinwheeled for a second in shock before steadying herself.

A second pedestal, smaller, had manifested in front of the first. It was made of the same marble as the temple, but there was no sign of wear or age. 

"So it _is_ a seal," said Lloyd, recovering enough to give the pedestal a thoughtful nudge with his boot.

"Okay, then!" said Colette, shaking off the surprise, "I'm going to put my hand on it."

She settled her hand into the depression, and the ground shook as the temple door scraped sideways. The temple beyond was black as pitch, and a belch of stale air swept along the collonade. The stone twisted a gust of wind into a howl, and hairs rose on the back of my neck. Lloyd rolled his head to one side, already bored.

"Let's hurry up and get this over with!"

The interior was cavernous and lined with ever more ornate columns, the walls cut with running friezes worn into illegibility. The quality of the dark became a strange, blue-tinged blackness, so that we could see our way by the turquoise gleam of the marble. The air was dry and cool, and oddly quiet. The wind tore the echoes from the walls, so that everything beyond our immediate vicinity was drenched in white noise.

I cracked an elbow against a bit of protruding statuary.

"F- _fudge_ ," I clutched the elbow to my chest, biting down on a string of really foul profanity."Fudging fr- _frhhhgh._ "

"It will be a moment before your eyes adjust," said Kratos, in a tone of poorly-disguised amusement.

"Chr- cri - _Bernard Cribbins_." I massaged my arm. "Thanks."

"You should watch your language," said Raine, attention only half on our exchange.

"What? I didn't even..." I shook my head. "I had _filthy_ language when I was Genis' age. Surely he's heard worse than _Cribbins._ "

"It's in the way you say it," Raine squinted at me, "and I'd prefer him to develop better habits than you, if you'll excuse the sentiment."

"No, that's fair," I grumbled. 

"This is pretty cool," said Lloyd, who had wandered a little ways ahead, "I feel like an explorer!"

Kratos sighed. "Lloyd, you always start _out_ enthusiastic."

"The wind sounds different in here," said Colette.

"It sounds like people," said Genis, frowning.

"What's with the floor over there?" wondered Lloyd, creeping closer to get a look. My eyes followed his gaze.

"Hey-" I began, at the same time Kratos shouted, "Lloyd!"

I got there first, snapping into place at Lloyd's side and dragging him backwards before he was impaled. A bed of steel spikes, so wide and so tall as to fill the entire corridor, rocketed up towards the ceiling. After a moment, as the sound of gonging metal ricocheted down the hallway, they retracted, sliding back into the grating underfoot. Kratos grabbed Lloyd by the back of his collar and hauled him back further, face like a thunderstorm.

"Watch where you're going! You could have been killed."

Lloyd's eyes were wide and his face was grey.

"What the heck was that?"

Kratos' anger didn't disappear, but it was reined in. He let go of Lloyd's collar. "A trap. This building may be full of them, so I would suggest you watch your step."

"Wh - none of the others had stuff like that," argued Lloyd.

"...It may be a precaution against graverobbers," said Raine. "The Balacruf Empire accrued incredible material wealth, and it was tradition to bury the dead with their most valuable possessions. If the past kings of Balacruf are, in fact, entombed here, then there would be good reason to defend it."

"How would people maintain the crypts?" I asked, staring around at the floor and ceiling. It was just so _dark_ . If I hadn't _known_ about the traps - well, Kratos probably would have gotten there in time. "And what about entombing new bodies? Getting in and out with a procession seems like a huge hassle."

"Historically, Balacruf's dead were buried in the catacombs below Asgard," explained Raine, "When the mountain became unstable, the bodies of the wealthy were brought to the Mausoleum. Before Cleo III the Mausoleum had been a small temple dedicated to the burial of saints and holy men. The actual construction remains a mystery, but we know from records that it was tremendously expensive. His son, Cleo IV, completed the project nearly thirty years after it started. Later scholars posit it was the huge cost of the project that lead to Cleo IV's downfall - he was previously quite popular."

"Wait, this whole place is a _tomb?_ " asked Lloyd, slow on the uptake.

"That _is_ what 'mausoleum' means," said Genis.

"What happened to Cleo IV?" I asked.

Genis brightened. "He was assassinated by Anik I, and peasants burned down his summer palace."

"If my king bankrupted the country in the aftermath of a natural disaster, I'd be pretty salty too," I agreed. "Love a good peasant revolt."

"Well," said Genis, apologetically, "after that, Anik I had the ringleaders of the peasant revolt hanged."

I sighed. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"None of this solves the problem of navigating the temple," interrupted Kratos. 

Kratos was right, unfortunately. We'd made cautious circuits of the foyer, and each exit was blocked by some kind of trap. One passageway was walled with spiked plates that came together in the middle like two huge meat tenderizers. Another conjured a trapdoor into blackness, and the last was strung with swinging, bladed pendulums. 

There was a rhythm to each, but you'd have to be pretty damn fast and very, very confident to risk it.

"I'm getting better at taking people along with me," I volunteered, "but it'd take a while, and I'd probably need to sit down afterwards."

"We may be able to cross in time with our Exspheres," posited Raine, "the traps take a moment to reset."

"Even if our timing is perfect, they sound mechanical. We can't assume they'll be consistent."

"We should figure out what triggers them," decided Raine, "there may be another way around this."

Lloyd frowned. "Well... the floor's a pressure plate, right?" Her head snapped around. "Well, you said to look! There's that big seam there between the tiles, but over here it's totally smooth." He turned for a moment, combing the ground, and came back up with two fist-sized stones. They looked like bits of ornamentation that had fallen off of the elaborate columns. "So if you just go to the other side without touching the ground," he hucked one clear over the platform, "it's fine. And if you touch the ground," he tossed the other. There was a wail of screeching metal and stone. "Right?"

"You're so observant, Lloyd!" said Colette, beaming. "I never would have seen that."

"Lloyd has good eyes, when he uses them," said Genis.

"Er," I said, "that's a pretty big jump." It wasn't _huge_ , maybe a six foot leap, but even with a running start - a mistake would be deadly.

Colette brightened. "I could carry people across! It doesn't make me tired at all."

Raine nodded slowly. "Edie, why don't you go ahead, just in case." She caught my eye. "Don't give me that look. You're the only one who can get yourself away if it goes wrong."

"I was only messing with you," I said cheerfully, "Where are we going first? If each path is such a production it might take a bit."

We took the route that had almost skewered Lloyd, out of nostalgia. 

I went across first at a running leap, just to test the theory, and when I hadn't ended up a kebab, Colette ferried Genis and Raine across. Lloyd and Kratos opted to jump, too, unable to stomach being carried by a teenage girl. We rounded a corner, and stepped into a stream of wind. It was so strong that it made a _phoom-phoom-phoom_ sound as it hit my ears. Raine waved for me to follow, and we pressed on until we reached a dead end.

"There's writing here," Raine said. She had to half-shout to be heard over the wind. It burst from an aperture in the wall like the breeze from a wind tunnel. 

On the wall perpendicular to that was an engraved stone plaque, impossible to read in the eerie blue dimness. Positioned suggestively in front of the plaque was a standing iron brazier. "It's too dark to read. Maybe-" Raine lifted her staff. She'd used a spell before to turn the end of it into a lantern, and I saw the beginnings of it - the wood glowing orange, then white - before it blinked out again into darkness. 

"It may be abjured against magic," said Kratos. 

"What's _abdured,_ " asked Lloyd, squinting against the darkness.

"Abjurative magic," said Genis, "it's defensive magic, like shields and stuff."

"It can be used to prevent certain kinds of magic from being used," explained Kratos.

"We may have to find a way to stop the wind," said Raine, frowning, "so that we can light the brazier. It's another puzzle."

"Wait," I said, flapping my hands, "Colette, can you still summon your wings?"

Colette nodded, wings unfurling behind her. They gave off a gentle pink glow. I gestured meaningfully at Raine and the inscription.

"I don't know if that's really in the spirit of the trial," she said, just this side of disapproving. "The intention is fairly obvious..."

"It's creative problem solving!" I insisted.

Raine relented. Colette, a little bemused, stood just below the plaque as Raine copied it down.

"The world is a giant," read Raine, "its ruby left hand is the throne of gods. Its emerald right hand is the power of gods. Its pearl left leg is the calm earth. Its topaz right leg is the rich earth. And its lapis lazuli body is the blue wind princess."

Lloyd scowled. "What's that mean?"

"Can we talk about this somewhere we don't have to shout?" I suggested.

When we reconvened in the foyer, I'd gone deaf in one ear. 

"So what was that about?" asked Lloyd, again.

"Another puzzle, I presume," said Raine. "We should continue. There may be more like it."

The Mausoleum, like all the temples, gave the impression of being purposefully hard to navigate. Identical hallways turned in on each other, others turned into dead ends, and everywhere there were monsters. These were of a distinctly undead flavor, sparking the eerie thought that some of the skeletons might be original inhabitants. 

_The Balacruf are people of the wind. They are born with the wind, live with the Summon Spirit, and become as wind when they die._

We encountered another set of spike traps, but this time Lloyd was looking for them.

_The great King of Balacruf, Cleo III, died and was reborn as king of the wind. The king travels the heavens with the Summon Spirit in past, present and future._

"I wonder if he knows what happened to his son?" muttered Genis.

 _The holy seal that extols the king flows from the throne of the gods to the rich earth, travels from the power of the gods to the calm earth, and when the blue wind princess is born in the center of the world, the holy seal shall also be complete_.

"A surprising number of mentions about earth," I said, "although I guess they are complementary elements."

 _That which the blue wind princess protects heads from the throne and across the rich earth, stands upon the calm earth, and gazes up at the power of the gods_.

"It's all colors," deduced Raine. "We have two alternate orders so far."

"Does it mean anything historically?" I wondered, "Or is it just puzzle sh- stuff?"

_That which is offered to the throne of the gods from the power of the gods, makes the rich earth as the calm earth, and arrives at the blue wind princess, will be as if traveling the giant's body in the manner of a clock's hand._

"No, I believe it's making reference to Balacruf worship rituals. The first describes the ritual of making tribute to the high priestess - the 'blue wind princess'. The second describes a ritual where the priestess cements her stewardship of the land. The last... I believe it describes a sacrificial ritual in honor of the gods. In essence, the land honors the princess, the princess honors the gods, and the gods honor the land through her."

"They did all that?" asked Lloyd.

"Yes, they did. It was a way of cementing the relationship between the clergy and the people, and the clergy and the gods."

"You like to see what you're paying for," I summarized.

"They must have loved their gods very much," said Colette.

Colette's sincere faith always had a way of catching me off-guard.

"Yeah," I agreed, "I guess they must have."

 _The Summon Spirit and the wind that serves it are to be found beyond the carving of the holy seal_.

"The Sorcerer's Ring," said Genis, because someone had to say it. "Well, Lloyd?"

"I think we _have_ to light these torches," said Lloyd, squinting up at the door on the level above. "I dunno what we'd need wind for."

"We've got two rings," I suggested, "I'll go wind if you go fire."

On the other side of the sealed door lay a domed room and five enormous pinwheels. It wasn't as dark as the rest of the temple, because hairline fractures had opened in the roof, and sunlight poured through it in thin curtains. Four of the wind catchers stood facing the center of the room, where the last - the blue wind princess - stood alone. I approached the nearest pinwheel.

"Oh my god," I said, leaning in, "it's actually made of pearl."

Each wheel had been carved out of gemstone, cut so thinly as to be featherweight. The work was impossibly delicate, but there was no sign of damage or wear. Each was as pristine and perfect as if it had just been made. Light spilled from the ceiling and shattered into a thousand different colors. In motion, the room became a kaleidoscope. The blue darkness shimmered like clear water.

"It's really pretty," said Colette. "I wonder how they did it?"

"Even my dad couldn't do this," admitted Lloyd. "Where'd they find gems this big?"

"They may be artificial," said Raine, "there's ample evidence that ancient people manufactured gems, particularly those useful in magitechnology. A few extant artifacts even include diamond as an element in the machinery, rather than in decoration."

Lloyd frowned, then brightened. "Oh! Like how you turn sand into glass. Or how you need diamond-edged tools for when you're working with really hard materials."

"Exactly, Lloyd," said Raine, delighted. "Diamonds are beautiful, yes, but they're also very useful."

Spinning the pinwheels according to the latter codes yielded two hidden caches of treasure - one of which was infested with grubs the size of my arm - and the former opened a passageway up to the seal platform. 

Pilgrims, in the years after Spiritua's success, had turned places like this into tourist destinations, and left tributes to the Chosen and Martel. As the world declined again, and became more dangerous, the priests took on the job of sealing off the temples. Some of those artifacts migrated with the priests to churches and academic institutions, but many remained inside, protected by the magic of the seal.

I'd acquired a dagger, a circlet, and a breastplate this way.

"Neat," said Lloyd, voice hollow from inside the helmet.

"Don't wear something you're unused to before going into battle," scolded Kratos. "You can practice in heavy armor later, but not now."

Raine, who was now wearing a silver stole, looked slightly sheepish.

"Is everyone ready?" asked Colette.

The fire and water temples had bored down into the earth, but now we traveled upwards. 

The air was very still. We were either very high up, or the weather had turned, because a dense fog rolled across the platform. There was no sign of the sunlight we'd seen through the domed ceiling - it was grey here, and very cold.

"We're finally at the altar," said Lloyd, rubbing his hands for warmth. At least _he_ was wearing gloves. "I'm sick of dungeons."

"You have no patience," chided Kratos.

Condensation beaded on the dark, smooth material of the altar. The air felt thick in a way that had nothing to do with the fog. I recognized the feel of mana in the air, now that I knew to look for it. It had a heavy, greasy feeling to it, and in some places was almost solid, like the layer of fat on a frozen stew. It left behind a film on everything it touched.

"It's coming," said Genis, and I watched green light bubble from the surface of the altar, a geyser on the verge of eruption.

The air snapped inwards, ripping the fog from the air, so that the sky was suddenly blue and clear. A cyclone tore from the altar, dark and nearly solid. There was an explosion of noise and force as the cyclone imploded into the shape of the Iapyx, shockwave ripping out across the platform and knocking Genis and Raine to the ground. Colette had already been hovering.

The Iapyx was turquoise, deep blue and sun-gold, avian arms and legs sprouting from a humanoid torso. Its taloned feet were the size of manhole covers and its wings, disproportionately small to the size of the body, hardly moved. It had a neck and head like a heron, but a beak like the head of an axe. It wasn't so hard to see how the Asgardians had mistaken the Calamity for the seal guardian.

I rushed in, and soon found the purpose of its dinky little wings.

It batted me out of the air in a shower of needle sharp feathers. When I rolled and stood, the feathers stayed, peppering my arm and some of my left cheek in plumage. When I yanked them out, I discovered that they were barbed. They had been painful going in, but they were _agony_ coming out. The ones in my arm could stay, but the ones in my face had to go.

"We've hardly begun!" scolded Raine as I passed her, dripping blood onto the marble.

"I didn't _mean_ to get hit! Look out for the feathers, they're barbed!"

"Perhaps now would be a good time to practice your shield magic," suggested Kratos waving a hand in my direction. The wounds on my face prickled, cool, like a eucalyptus salve, and I stopped bleeding quite so much.

"Thanks," I offered, pivoting at the last minute to drag Raine out of a sudden, deadly whirlwind.

"Some _warning_ would be nice!" she complained, windswept. The teleportation was always harder on other people than it was on me - perhaps because their bodies couldn't prepare for it the way mine could. Genis had thrown up every time he volunteered for practice.

"Sorry!" I called over my shoulder, and hopped back into the fray.

There was a pleasure in fighting, the way there was pleasure in dancing, but you had to learn not to get carried away. Pain was an effective teacher. 

A battle could turn on a dime. In a fight between two people, the best way to win was quickly, and preferably in a matter of seconds. Sharpened steel could end an argument in a heartbeat, if you put it in the right place. But fighting monsters was a test of endurance. The Iapyx was particularly hard to hit, because it was always enveloped in fast-moving air. In some moments, it felt thicker than lead, and at some thin as paper.

The 'shield' grew more concentrated on whatever side the Iapyx felt was most threatened. Lloyd figured it out before I did.

"Wait until it's casting," he called, "stay with me then get behind it before it can change directions!"

"Will do, captain!"

"I'm not - now!"

It was a strategy, but not a cheat. I got in one or two good swipes before the Iapyx smartened up and turned me into a pincushion.

The fight must have only been minutes long, but it felt like hours - maybe because I hadn't gotten around to tearing out any of the other feathers, and the scrape of the ends beneath my skin made me a little nauseous. Colette struck the killing blow, bladed chakram cutting a line of light across the Iapyx' torso, and then it was over. I bent double, panting, and then started to pull out the feathers.

"Stop that," ordered Raine, "you're only going to hurt yourself more."

"I gotta get them out _somehow_ ," I argued. Raine held out a hand, and after a moment I gave her my arm. She made an elaborate gesture in the air, paused, and then yanked one of the feathers out. I winced in anticipation, but it didn't hurt. "Whoa! Magic!"

"Yes, it's anesthetic," Raine said, shaking her head at me. "Not always useful in the heat of battle, but certainly in circumstances like this. Stop fidgeting."

"I'm not fidgeting. Ow!"

"The other shortcoming," said Raine, "is the relatively short duration."

It took another five minutes to get all the feathers out of me and Lloyd. Kratos went ahead and removed his own, although he'd been hit far less than Lloyd and I. "You'd think," I said from my spot on the floor, watching Raine drop bloodied yellow feathers into a pile, "that after the guardian disappeared, the feathers would disappear." 

Genis plopped down beside me. "Yeah, but stuff that makes prolonged contact with people is more likely to stick around, especially blood. The trace mana is enough to stabilize it separately from the monster." He twiddled a feather between his fingers, carefully clear of the arrowhead end. "They might be valuable. We could probably sell them in Asgard."

"That's got my blood on it!" I protested.

Genis shrugged. "What do you wanna do with it?"

I paused.

"Yes, Genis, an excellent question." I fished a handkerchief out of my bag and started to pile the feathers inside, careful not to puncture the cloth. "Hey, Lloyd, can I take your feathers?"

Lloyd scowled down at me. "Gross, why?"

"They're pretty sturdy," I explained, "And the ends are intact. I bet I can make them into darts." 

"Ugh, sure."

"I may be able to help with that," said Kratos, "it's not unlike fletching." I blinked at him. "Crafting arrows."

"You're an interesting guy, Kratos," I said, smiling, "that'd be great."

When Lloyd had been plucked, and I had gathered the remains, there was nothing to do but approach the altar. 

"Wait," I said, grabbing Colette's wrist. I'd moved without thinking.

"What is it?"

I paused, and then gave her a great big bear hug. 

We hugged all the time. I was often touchy-feely in the aftermath of fear, and Colette was the only one so inclined. Raine and Kratos didn't hug, outside of some imagined dramatic circumstance, and Genis and Lloyd thought hugging was weird. Colette was of a height that her chin could rest comfortably on my shoulder. She ran warmer than I did, like a little radiator.

"Everything's going to be okay," I whispered, squeezing.

"I... should go to the altar," Colette squeaked. 

I'd hugged her for too long. I stepped back, awkward, but I didn't want to. I wanted to scoop her up and run away, because in a few hours Colette will have gone cold. She'd mime it, if she thought it made me happy, but every hug would be a reminder for her that she'd changed, and that she was becoming less human. I grit my teeth, battling the sudden urge to cry. I hadn't reacted like this at any of the other seals! Why was it happening now?

A hand closed on my shoulder. "Control yourself," said Raine, very quietly. "We have to be strong for _her_."

I nodded, ashamed of myself. 

Colette approached, and the seal opened before her.

_Chosen of Regeneration, offer your prayers at the altar._

"Yes." She took the steps slowly, and clasped her hands to her chest. "Oh Goddess Martel, greath protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength!"

In the daylight, Colette's wings became a prism, a thousand shards of color scattering to the earth beneath her. Before her, his face pleasant and empty, Remiel looked crushingly ordinary. 

How it must sting for him to watch a human become the mirror of his god.

"This is the third seal. You have done well reaching this far, Chosen One, Colette."

"Thank you."

The tails of Colette's coat fluttered in the wind. Remiel's clothes didn't seem to move at all.

"Receive this blessing, the gift of angelic power from Cruxis."

"Y-yes, father. Thank you."

Remiel raised his hands, and from the sky there came a helix of light. The mana in that light had a different quality to the mana in the air, which was warm and heavy and slick. The mana in the light felt cold and effervescent, like a numbing mist. It sunk into Colette, and then the feeling was gone.

"The next seal lies far northwest, in a place that gazes upon the center of the world. Offer your prayers at the altar in that distant land."

"I shall do as you say, Lord Remiel."

Remiel didn't seem to notice the change. 

"I will be waiting for you at the next seal, Colette, my daughter." 

_The end of your journey is close. Hurry and become a true angel. Do not disappoint me._

* * *

I was tired and sore. 

The feathers had left behind an unpleasant, tingly feeling, and teleporting too often made me hungry and nauseated all at the same time. All I wanted was to get out of the temple, make camp, and pass out. It wasn't even my turn to cook, and we'd left bundles of firewood outside when we'd arrived - no use bringing the extra weight in. I would cozy up in my bedroll, and I would sleep.

"Stop!"

I read a study in my freshman year of college about how parole judges were measurably harsher if they were hungry and tired. It'd always stuck with me - people pretended that people were rational, and that people who made bad decisions under stress were cruel or evil, but we were all only animals. It's easier to be nice when you're well-rested and in a good mood. It's easier to be generous when you've always had plenty. 

I knew where Sheena was coming from. I understood _why_ she was trying to kill Colette.

It didn't stop me from getting annoyed.

I really, _really_ didn't want to fight.

"Come on."

"Oh, no," said Genis.

Sheena jogged down a staircase towards us, pink-cheeked but determined. "This day has finally come. This ancient ruin will be your graveyard!"

I was so tired.

"Oh," Colette poked her head out from behind Lloyd, beaming, "you're here, too!"

Sheena, burned by previous experience, braced herself. "S-stay back! Don't move! Don't touch anything!"

I appeared in front of Colette, hands held in a gesture of peace. Sheena's posture tensed further. " _Please_ . Stop. I just want to talk." I lowered my hands, just slightly. _She's frightened and desperate_. "I'm not going to hurt you, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to hurt me." I took slow, deliberate breaths, and maintained eye contact. "My name's Edie. How about my friends go outside, and you and I talk?"

It was a risky proposition. Sheena had held her own against the six of us, if only for a little while. The difference between us was that I was not, fundamentally, a nice person. 

"Y-you can't stop me," Sheena said.

"Yes, I know," I pleaded, "but there's time to talk. Give me thirty minutes. Thirty minutes, and you can do whatever you want. _Please_."

"Edie," began Raine, "she's an assassin." It was her 'you're being an idiot' voice. She used it with alarming frequency. "If she's determined even after what happened at Ossa, then you can't stop her."

"I'm not trying to stop her," I repeated, "I'm trying to _talk_. Will the five of you go outside? It's not fair to go six on one."

"Edie!" protested Genis.

" _Please_."

I couldn't see their faces - I felt that as long as I kept my eyes on Sheena and my hands up, she wouldn't be able to bring herself to attack. But I could feel the conversation taking place behind me, in gestures and expressions. Lloyd finally spoke. "We should give her a chance. It couldn't hurt."

"I'm not agreeing to this," said Sheena, "i-if your friends leave, I'll kill you."

"I'm willing to risk it," I replied, aware that my heart was beating unnaturally fast. "Lloyd, take the others outside. Please."

"...On your own head be it," said Kratos.

I waited until the footsteps faded. Sheena was frozen in place, eyes wild and body still tensed for battle.

"Are they gone?" She nodded. "Okay." I lowered my hands, and then sat on the floor, my legs crossed. I indicated the spot of marble opposite me. "Can you sit? It'll be less awkward if you sit."

"Why are you doing this?" Sheena asked. Either she was paralyzed by the idea of killing a potential peacemaker, or she had only a rough idea of my abilities and was being overcautious. 

"Because," I said, taking another deep breath. "You're scared. I know you're not a Desian, and I know you don't want to kill a little girl for no reason. Please," I repeated, "thirty minutes. Then you can do what you want. You're stronger than me, if you're worried about that. Kratos and Raine might be thinking hard back there, but Colette and Lloyd and Genis would never, ever choose to hurt someone if they didn't have to."

"And you?"

"I... don't know," I admitted. "I don't think anyone should have to be young and scared and alone, though."

"I'm not alone," Sheena snapped.

"Right," I agreed, "I'm sorry." I took another deep breath, and then bowed my head to her. It wasn't a proper bow, not in her world or in mine, but I was baring my back to her. That had to mean _something_. My hands were shaking, now, with the panic of having gone off-script. It had been so easy to play along, and I knew that things would turn out well, in the end... but this was now, and I didn't want to fight Sheena again. "Please. Thirty minutes."

Sheena's voice shook. There was a scrape of stone and fabric. "You're crazy." When I looked up, she was seated on the ground, hands in white-knuckled fists on her knees. "Nothing you say will change what I have to do. I'm just doing _this_ because you're alone, and it wouldn't be fair to kill you with your hands empty. It wouldn't be honorable."

I smiled. "Would it be better if I were holding something? Just a moment." I shrugged the pack off my shoulder. Sheena didn't relax. I supposed she couldn't. "Here," I said, offering her a kirima. It was like a persimmon, with a slightly tougher exterior. "What? I'm hungry."

"I'm not taking anything from you," Sheena said.

"...That's fair," I agreed, but put it on the ground between us, and started nibbling at my own. "It's there if you want it. So. Why are you trying to kill Colette? If she regenerates the world, then theoretically everyone benefits. Is it money? Are you under duress?"

"No," Sheena snapped. And then she spoke more softly. "No. If you regenerate the world... my country will be destroyed."

I was at a very unfair advantage, asking questions I already knew the answers to. 

"That's interesting. So your country isn't in Sylvarant." 

Her head snapped up.

I dabbed at a bit of juice that had fallen onto the front of my tunic. It was nearly brown by now, anyway. "So if your country isn't Sylvarant, what is it?"

Sheena looked at her hands, still clenched in her lap. "You... don't need to know that."

"I don't," I agreed, "but I'd like to."

Sheena swallowed. "It's Tethe'alla. Not... the moon."

I took pity on her. "I read a book once about parallel worlds," I said, "how, because of the nature of the universe, anything can happen. All those things have to happen somewhere. So you get other worlds... what was it? As close as shadow. As close as your own skin."

"You already know, then."

"I can guess," I said, taking another messy bite. Kirimas were hard to eat with any dignity. "So if Sylvarant is saved, Tethe'alla suffers. Right?" She nodded. "So right now, Sylvarant is suffering because Tethe'alla is prospering." She nodded, but more hesitantly. "So it's a zero-sum game. You can only win when the other person loses, is that it?"

"I don't like it either," said Sheena. "But I made a promise."

I wiped a hand on my pant leg and hucked the pit of the kirima into a shadowy corner. Maybe something would grow there, one day. "So they sent you. Can I ask why you?"

"...It was the best choice."

"But you're so young."

"I'm nineteen," Sheena protested, indignant, then blushed.

"Sorry," I laughed, "I didn't mean to be rude. Can I ask your name? I won't tell the others if you don't want me to."

Sheena looked down. "It's... Sheena. And you can tell them... whatever. It won't change the fact that I have to kill you."

I nodded. "You understand we have to protect Colette. Not because she's the Chosen, but because she's our friend. And that's the other thing." I sighed. "What she's choosing to do isn't easy. I don't know what you know about the trials, but regenerating the world means sacrificing her life." Sheena inhaled, short and sharp. "I know. She loves this world, and she's willing to die for it."

"That... doesn't change anything."

"It does, though. Because what's going on..." I tried to phrase it delicately, in case we had eavesdroppers. "I don't like it. I don't like zero-sum games. I don't like sacrificial lambs. Are... you familiar with the trolley problem? Does Tethe'alla have trains?" 

Sheena nodded, hesitant.

"Well, imagine there's a train, and it's about to hit a fork. As it is right now, it'll go down the track with five people tied to the tracks. But you're standing at the interchange, at the little... lever, thing, and you can switch it to the other track. There's still someone tied to the track, but it's only one person. Do you pull the lever, and save five people at the cost of one? Or do you let the train go where it's headed?"

"It's... a thought experiment," Sheena said. "I've heard something like it, yeah. But...that doesn't apply here. It's not just the Chosen that suffers if your world is regenerated."

"I know, but the reason I brought it up... Imagine seeing that, and not wondering who tied the people to the tracks."

Sheena blinked. "It's not literal. I mean, it's just the way the world works."

I made a face. "I... don't think that's true. Everything I've seen... These temples, these seals, they weren't naturally occuring. And this process can't have been necessary forever, because one or both of the worlds would have died long before now." I paused. "Do you have the Church in your world? Do you have a Chosen?" Sheena nodded. "If I was being charitable, I'd assume that Cruxis was doing this in the best interest of both worlds."

"But?"

"I'm not sure that it's true. Things like zero-sum games and one-person revolutions don't happen, not really. People make them, because we're animals and we hoard resources. Our brains don't know when enough's enough. Humor me," I said, "if you were God, why would you make a world like this?"

"I... don't know."

I sat back. "I'm sorry. I'm talking at you."

"You're not very..." Sheena paused. "Why are you doing this, then?"

"Because I want to know who tied the people to the tracks," I said, "and the only way is to follow this to the end of the road. I'm... mixing my metaphors."

"What is it you want, then? None of this... it doesn't change what I have to do." She looked miserable.

"To be honest, I just really didn't want to have to fight you. I'm tired. And I like you."

"Wh- why?!"

I shrugged. "You're trying your best. And even though we're in this situation, you're being _polite_."

The silence stretched. I ran a shaking hand through my hair. I had been tired, before, but now I felt wrung-out and light-headed. There had been something comical to our fight with Sheena before, even fun. I realized now that it was because she still hadn't committed herself to killing Colette. Now, resolute and deadly serious, I couldn't stand the idea of fighting her. She was so painfully earnest, and so young.

"What do you want from me?" asked Sheena.

"...Come with us. Get to know Colette. See for yourself what's happening."

Sheena laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Are you kidding? They'd never agree to that."

"Lloyd can be really persuasive," I said, "and I'm pretty sure I can persuade Lloyd."

Sheena looked down, face crumpling. "I... no. I can't. I'm sorry."

"...I understand," I said, "I hope you'll change your mind, but I understand."

"There's no _time_ left," she whispered. "It's..."

I felt the horrible urge to cry for the second time today. It was a nasty habit, crying when someone else was the one in torment. It forced vulnerable people to comfort you. It made their grief and pain _about you_ . There was so much weight on Sheena's shoulders already. She didn't deserve the weight of my pity. But what _did_ she deserve? What could I even give her? 

I pawed at my belt. Sheena's body, slumped in grief, snapped to attention.

"It's okay," I said, "it's not a weapon. It's... a gift."

"...What is this?"

"I got it at Thoda Geyser," I said, smiling. "It's a souvenir."

"It's... a washtub. No, it's a cup."

"It's a washtub," I said. "Take this as... a promise. If we meet again, one day, and you need help that I can give, I'll help. I'm sorry you have to deal with this."

"I..." Sheena's hand tightened around the miniature washtub. "This isn't how it's supposed to work."

I shrugged. "Nothing ever works out the way it's supposed to."

"I -" Sheena stood, suddenly. Her eyes were shining. I stayed seated, out of shock rather than strategy. "I'm sorry!"

There was a cloud of grey smoke, and she was gone.

I stared down at the ground for a moment, trying to work out what was strange.

She'd taken the kirima.

"Is everyone okay out here?" I asked, stepping into the collonade. The sky was blue and clear, and the wind had calmed to a gentle breeze. Lloyd sprang up from his seat on the oracle stone.

"What happened? Raine said you had five more minutes and then -"

"I think she left," I said, "we just talked. Are we setting up camp?"

Lloyd's face crumpled. "Yeah. Colette's sick again."

"Well... she'll feel better if you're around. Shall we?"

Lloyd hesitated. "She's... really gone?"

"For now."

* * *

"You're back," said Raine.

"Guilty as charged," I agreed.

"Well, what happened?"

I glanced around. Colette was lying prone, eyes unfocused, but awake. Everyone else was seated and listening. I found myself fiddling with the cuff of my shirt. It was somehow much harder to explain myself to people I knew and trusted than to explain myself to a self-professed assassin. I didn't know what Kratos or Colette had heard, and I didn't know what Raine already suspected.

I would tell the truth.

"Her name's Sheena."

I explained, in bits and pieces, Tethe'alla, and the cycle of growth and decline.

"...And you believed her?" asked Raine.

"Yes. At the very least, I believe she thought it was true. Raine, she was terrified."

"She may just be a good actress," pointed out Kratos.

"What kind of assassin announces that they're going to kill someone?" I asked. "If she wanted to kill Colette, why not do it in the dead of night? We haven't always kept watch while at inns. Instead, she announces herself, and _challenges_ us."

"An act," suggested Raine, but I could tell she didn't believe it.

"But," interrupted Lloyd, "that... can't be right. If that's true... why would Cruxis let it happen?"

"Is there a point in speculating?" asked Kratos. "If the Chosen does not regenerate the world, it will die. Even if it were true, it doesn't change the fact that we must continue."

"I know," I said, "I think that's why she left, this time. It's hard to sit down with another person and know that your differences can't be resolved, no matter how hard you argue. I wish..." I sighed. "I wish we lived in a world where young people weren't being forced to make these decisions."

"Yes," said Raine, softly, "but we live in this one."

"...I wanna talk to her," said Lloyd. "If she really believes that, then... The world _shouldn't_ be like that."

"I don't want to hurt anyone."

Colette had spoken, soft and clear.

"But... I can't let the people of this world suffer." She closed her eyes. "Even if she asked me..." She sat up, damp strands of hair falling from her face. One of her hands was wrapped loosely in linen bandage. "The people of Sylvarant are suffering, and it's my job to protect them. If she... if she tries to kill me, even if she's right... I'll fight back."

I nodded, my throat tight.

"I know, Colette. And if she did... I'd help you. Not just because you're the Chosen."

Colette nodded, eyes downcast.

"So... what now?" asked Genis.

The fledgling fire spluttered in the pit. Genis stoked it, absentminded. It wasn't quite dark yet, but it would be soon. The dark came quickly, this time of year. It was disquieting to wake up in the dark, someone shaking you awake. It took you longer to remember who and where you were. Sometimes, even on rocky ground, I woke thinking I was back home.

"We go north," said Raine, at last. "The 'place that gazes upon the center of the world' is likely the Tower of Mana. It was built to observe the Tower of Salvation. There's a city not too far south. We should head there first."

Kratos nodded. "To Luin, then."


	8. Luin, Tower of Mana

We needed to go north.

But first, we needed to go west.

It was painful to know we had so far to travel to get off of Balacruf Island - or whatever it was they called the land mass where the Mausoleum had been built - and that, on the other side, we'd have to just as far to reach Luin. It wasn't entirely terrible; we could look forward to a stay at a House of Salvation our first night back on the continent, and I never turned my nose up at a bed and a bath.

But the further we traveled inland, the worse the weather became. 

It was getting colder, the ground harder, and the snow began to collect, first on the hills, and then in great, impassible drifts on the road. Even warm days were only enough to encrust the snowbanks in a layer of ice. Occasionally we would pass farmsteads or small villages - not big enough to have inns, but big enough to bother clearing the road, and that was even worse. The roads compacted down, slick and uneven, so that every single step had to be carefully considered.

On the one hand, it was excellent slapstick.

On the other, Kratos never seemed to lose his balance.

I liked Kratos, as much as you _could_ like your someday-executioner. He was exceptionally competent, quiet, and gave good advice. He wasn't _nice_ , of course, not even to Lloyd, but he was fair. When he admonished or critiqued or scolded, it was from a place of reasonable authority, not a need for control. He was happy to let us make our own mistakes, provided that we learned from them. He wasn't a _leader_. He was simply correct. 

I desperately wanted to see him eat shit.

I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, and in my heart of hearts, that I would never feel true contentment unless one day I saw Kratos absolutely beef it. I didn't want him to die, or be seriously injured, or anything. I just wanted to see him taste pavement. 

I resigned myself to knowing it would probably never happen. But I could imagine it.

* * *

"What are you doing?" asked Lloyd.

"Willing Kratos to slip."

"What? Why?"

"It'd be funny."

"Oh! Yeah, probably."

"He doesn't even have to fall over. Just flail around a little bit."

"Yeah! Serve him right for being... smug."

"Yeah! Being smarter than us. And stuff."

"And stronger."

"And he's tall."

"Wait, we're just praising him!"

"Sh - shoot, you're right. Okay. Fall. Fall. Fallll."

"Yeah... fall... nnnnnnrrrghhhhhhh..."

"What are you doing?"

"Like what Genis and the Professor do with their hands when they're casting. You never know!"

"Oh, dang, yeah. Nnnnnnrrrrhhhhh!"

"Nnnnrghhhhhhh...... _fall..._ "

"Nnn - wuh - fuck!"

* * *

"It's broken," said Raine, tsking, "you should be more careful."

"I was being careful!"

"You were being silly," she said, holding my wrist straight. "And what did I say about language?"

"It's a form of verbal and written - ow, I'm just joking."

"Lloyd has enough bad habits as it is."

"You know I'm your age, Raine. Actually, I'm older."

"Then you should act like it."

"But, Raine! Then I wouldn't get to have you boss me around. And it's so irresistible - ow!"

"Are you a child or an old man? Stop that."

I paused. "I can stop if I'm making you uncomfortable."

Raine looked surprised for a moment, and then gave me a wry smile. "I didn't mean it like that. You... I'm sorry. I suppose you do take things seriously when the situation warrants it."

I shook my head. "No, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to be the real adult all the time. I'll... I'll do better. You deserve a chance to let your guard down from time to time."

Raine's ears turned pink. "They're not your responsibility," she said, sighing.

"They kind of are, though," I said, "I've opted in. If... not to be dramatic, but if anything happened to you or Kratos I'd defend those kids with my last breath."

Raine smiled. The fondness there made me flush. "Yes. I know you would. It's entirely irrational, of course," she continued, "You're certainly a liar and probably a thief. I should have asked you to leave a long time ago," she said, letting my arm fall, healed and unbroken, "Perhaps Lloyd's sentimentality is getting to me."

"Or it's my incredible good looks. _Oww!_ "

"You don't have to turn everything into a joke!"

* * *

"Colette. You're up late."

"Y-yes, I couldn't sleep."

I nodded. "Wanna come sit with me? I could use the company."

"Okay!"

Colette settled down onto the stretch of oilcloth. 

"You've been working hard," I said, "let me know if there's anything I can do for you, okay?"

"I haven't, not really... Everyone else is working so hard to help me, and I..."

"You...?"

"Ah! Sorry. Nevermind."

"You've been working hard," I repeated, "but even if you weren't, you'd still deserve love. You deserve it just for being you."

"I... I don't know if I do."

"Can I ask why?"

"I... I don't..."

"It's okay," I reassured her. "You don't have to say. We can just sit here."

Colette nodded, eyes downcast.

"Maybe..." she began, before drifting into silence.

"Maybe?" I prompted.

"Maybe you could tell me a story?" she said, hopefully. "I liked the one you told at Midwinter. It was really sweet."

"Of course. About anything in particular?"

"Umm... Maybe something with animals?"

"I... yeah, I know a good one. Or I guess a few stories. If you like the first, I can tell you the rest another night." I smiled. "My dad would read them to me when I was really little. I think you'd like them."

Colette nodded. "That would be nice."

"Hmm. Okay, then. Ahem. The Mole had been working hard all morning. He was spring-cleaning his little home. First with dusters, then ladders and chairs, and a brush and a pail of whitewash..."

* * *

"Hm." Kratos looked down at my hands. 

Cupped between them, hardly bigger than a ping-pong ball, was a lump of liquid flame. The surface roiled like water in a storm, and the air around it shimmered. It was very hot, hovering inches from my skin, but it was made from my own mana and would never burn me. Now and then it would spit sparks into the frozen air, or droplets of heat would fall into the snow and sizzle.

"You're making progress."

I beamed. "Thank you. I know it's not much, but it's nice to be able to make _something._ I still can't do the other elements. Other than light and dark," I admitted. I had a natural talent with light and dark, but turning either of them into a weapon was still beyond me.

"Broadcasting your failures won't make an opponent go any easier on you," he said flatly.

The little ball of fire flickered for a moment. I scowled down at it, and it burbled back to life. "Yes. But you're not an opponent, you're a mentor."

Kratos sniffed. "Don't undercut your achievements. Leave that to others."

"Yes, sir," I smiled. "So, what do I do now that I've got a fireball?"

Kratos looked down at it.

"I imagine you could light a small birthday candle."

"Ha-ha," I said, "so. It's gotta be bigger before I can do anything with it, is that it?"

"Yes. It'll lose stability the farther it gets from your body."

I nodded. And then had a thought. "But if it's near me it's relatively stable?"

"As long as you're able to keep your concentration," he agreed, squinting suspiciously at me.

"Neat."

"Hmph. How is your throwing coming along?"

"Er."

"I assume you've been practicing. Otherwise, making all of those darts would have been a tremendous waste of time."

"Ahhh, you're no fun."

"I wasn't aware that was my job."

"What? But you're a kind of jester, aren't y- oww. How'd you do that? It's my own mana!"

"Sympathetic magic," Kratos said. I shook my hands for a moment before giving up and plunging them in the snow. "I assume Genis has explained."

"Yes," I said, grumpily. There was a spot smoldering on my coat. "Man, that's gonna take hours to heal up."

"Yes," said Kratos, nearly smirking, "I suppose it will."

* * *

"Genis?"

"Aaagh!"

Genis startled, face reddening as he realized that I was not, in fact, an attacker. I fell into step beside him, grimacing apologetically.

"Sorry. You looked a bit upset. You alright?"

"Oh. Yeah," he said, sulkily. I followed his line of sight.

Lloyd had been spending a lot of time with Colette ever since the wind seal. They were close friends, of course, and to see them walking together wasn't out of the ordinary. But before Balacruf, Lloyd and Genis had almost always walked together, or with Colette as a group of three. And they were always talking - ribbing on one another and speculating on the universe in equal measure.

But now Genis was often a third wheel, or left behind entirely. Lloyd was kind at heart, but he didn't always notice the effect he had on other people. Genis was young enough to feel personally slighted by the whole thing, but clever enough not to bring it up, in case people thought he was being immature.

"You'll always be his best friend," I said, "Colette's just having a hard time right now, so he's looking after her."

"I know," said Genis, indignant. "I'm not stupid."

"I never said anything like it," I smiled, "But I thought you might like a little company. I know I'm not as good as _Lloyd_ , but-"

"Ugh, don't say _that_ , he'll laugh!"

"No he won't! Well, probably not, but if he does, I'll break his arm."

Genis looked horrified. "You wouldn't really!"

"Of course I wouldn't, geez. Anyway. How about a little lesson? You haven't lectured me on anything in basically forever."

Genis made a face. "You think I'm being stupid, don't you."

"...No? What about?"

"I know he's my best friend," he continued, grumpy. "And Colette's my friend, too. I just..."

"It still hurts," I agreed. 

"I know Colette needs him more right now, I just..."

"Why don't you go with them? You're their friend, too."

"But," Genis flushed. "I don't wanna be... annoying."

"You literally couldn't be annoying," I said, "Lloyd and Colette love you. And you know what's more fun and helpful than one friend? Two friends. Get over there."

"Wh - no," protested Genis.

"I could always drop you on top of them," I suggested.

Genis scowled. "You're awful." 

I grinned. "Yes, I'm afraid so. You'll have to go complain about me to your _friends_."

He paused, then gave me a swift kick in the shins, and ran off to wriggle his way between Lloyd and Colette. They were, of course, delighted to see him. Lloyd and Colette together had been cheerful, of course, but with just a shade of solemn. Lloyd, Genis and Colette, as a group of three, could have made a wake feel like a birthday party. They were already laughing - probably about me.

I had to hop a few steps, massaging my shin and trying not to curse.

"You say I'm a bad influence?" I whined at Raine, who was watching with a little smile.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

* * *

"Raine..."

Raine gave me a sharp look.

"I haven't even said anything!"

"Yes, but I can tell you're going to ask me something irritating."

I guiltily offered up my hand. 

"How on earth did you burn yourself this badly?"

"Ah... well, you know I've been working on my magic?"

"Yes, but your own mana shouldn't..."

"Ah, well, I thought it would be a good idea to... well, channel the magic to a dagger. It's not hard, or anything. It's just like folding cloth around a stick, or something. But..."

"The _steel_ will still burn you."

"Yes, I figured that out. I just thought, the heat..." I hissed as she seized my hand. We _had_ panacea bottles, which remedied everything from burns to paralysis, but potions were expensive, and magic was cheap. 

"The _heat_ may be a byproduct of your magic, but it is _not_ the magic. The flame is the magic. What did you do, grab it?"

"No!" I quailed under her look. "Well, I _held_ it. Gently."

"Up until you dropped it, I'm sure."

"Yes," I said, sourly, "I'm going to have to fix the edge."

Raine sniffed. "I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to reflect while you work. There. You _might_ have healed it yourself, you know."

"Well, yes," I admitted, "but I'm slow. And I can't pass up an opportunity for a little bit of tender - oww! You're getting carried away with that, now."

"Maybe you shouldn't say so many things worth being hit for," said Raine, but she was smirking. 

"Ah, I see," I grinned, "it's like pulling pigtails."

That stumped her for a half second before she scowled and raised her staff. "I can put that burn right back, you know."

I held up both hands in surrender. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I can only hope you'll find it in your heart to pardon me."

"I suppose I could," she said, and then brightened. "You know, you _did_ say you'd try that flatbread, if I made it for you."

"I did say that, yes," I agreed, regretfully.

"We should have plenty of flour left, and those dried cranberries. Oh! Do you still have that fish oil?"

"Dare I ask where the fish oil is going to come in?"

"No," she said, imperious, "you dare not."

"Yes, your majesty. I'll fetch the fish oil, shall I?"

* * *

"Uuuugh."

"You really shouldn't eat Raine's cooking," Genis sighed.

"It _looked_ okay."

"No, it didn't!"

"No, it didn't."

"Are you gonna want _any_ dinner?"

"Nrghghhh."

"I'll put it aside, then."

"Thank yoooou."

* * *

We met Nova and his family again only a day or two out from Luin. 

"Ah! I didn't think I'd see you again so soon," beamed Nova, greeting Raine and Kratos with firm handshakes while Mia shrieked and grabbed me by the hem of my coat. 

"Mia," said her mother, Annika, "there's no need to yell."

"But I can do the thing now! The thing!"

"The thing?" I asked, dropping down into a squat. "Oh! The walnuts?"

"Yes!" Mia grabbed me by the sleeve and dragged me over to the larder, disappearing inside for a moment before producing a pair of shelled walnuts. They looked smaller than the ones I had seen before - maybe a different variety - but they fit perfectly in her little hand. She demonstrated the trick for me, placing the walnuts seam-to-seam in one palm and squeezing. "See? See?"

"I see! Amazing!"

"So you have to give me a reward now!"

I blinked. "Oh, do I?"

"Yes, you said!" Her cheeks puffed and colored with the effort of intimidation. She had the self-satisfied look of young liars everywhere - certain beyond the shadow of a doubt that their mark was too stupid to catch on. 

It would have been irresponsible for me to encourage that kind of behavior.

"Yes, I think I remember now," I grinned, and after a moment, produced a hundred-gald coin. Her eyes shone in amazement and reasonable suspicion. I rolled it across my knuckles, one way and then the other. And then, in a movement like snapping my fingers, the hundred-gald coin became a ten-gald coin. Mia gasped, first in delight, and then in disappointment. I pressed the ten-gald coin into her hand, and smiled. "I think that's a good prize, don't you?"

Mia had the good sense not to admit to being tricked.

"Yes," she said obediently, palming the coin and turning it over. "How did you do that?"

When you made your rent in tips, it paid - quite literally - to know a good party trick. The woman who'd trained me had taught me this one. I didn't know the name, but all you did was hold up two coins at once, the smaller secreted behind the larger, and snap the larger back into your palm. 

"Magic," I lied.

Mia blew out her cheeks. "That wasn't magic, that was a trick!"

"I'll show you how to do the knuckle roll," I offered, "and then you can try to figure out how I did it, all right?"

The ten-gald coin, about the size of a nickel, was much better-suited to little hands. 

"This is hard," Mia complained, fishing the coin back out of the snow. 

"Well, you're a girl, so sometimes messing up is just as good," I admitted, "you just have to laugh at yourself, and people will think it's cute."

"What kind of advice are you giving my daughter?" asked Annika, leaning over to look.

I smiled, sheepish. "Useful advice?"

"Mia, go and help your brother," Annika ordered. Mia pouted, but did as she was told, stuffing the coin back in her pocket. "I don't doubt she will have figured that out in a day or two. She's very clever. You're not wrong, of course, but she's enough trouble without the extra help."

"Sorry," I straightened up. "I've been told I'm a bad influence."

Annika chuckled. "No, you're very good with children. I suppose you don't have any of your own?"

"No, no," I waved a hand, slightly horrified. "I just... well, some people come into restaurants and expect the staff to babysit, if you get me."

Annika nodded grimly. "Yes, I waitressed a little while I was in school. It's amazing how quickly people forget their manners around anyone in a uniform."

I laughed. "Yeah, pretty much. Where'd you go to school?"

"The Academy in Palmacosta," Annika smiled, "Nova and I both studied there."

"Huh! So which one of you decided on," I waved vaguely towards the caravan.

"Oh, it was Nova's mother's, before it was ours. She was a botanist. She traveled with us for a while after we married, but..."

I nodded. "I'm sorry."

Annika blinked, and then laughed, waving a hand. "Oh, no, you misunderstand. She teaches at the Academy now. Not much for travel, anymore. We see her as often as we can."

I grinned. "Oh. Yeah, I got that one wrong. Sorry, did you come over here for something?"

"Conversation," Annika shrugged. "And rice." She motioned towards the larder that I was blocking. 

"Oh! My bad. Can I help at all?"

Annika shook her head. "No, no, you ought to rest. I'm sure you could use it. The children... I don't think they quite understand what you're doing," she admitted, "but Nova and I are happy to provide a reprieve, if we can. Lloyd and Genis were in dire straits when we met them. I admit to being a little protective." She smiled.

"You're all so... kind," I said, shaking my head. "Almost everyone I've met on this journey has been so generous. Save the Desians and highwaymen, of course."

"Yes, well, better to be generous when you can afford it," said Annika. "You never know when you may need the same from others."

"Wise. How do I end up wise, anyhow?"

"Two children and a doctorate, I suppose," Annika sniffed.

"Hm. Guess I'll stay a fool, then."

* * *

Luin Lake was wide and foggy with ice. There were three islands that housed the city, the largest of the three partially forested, and the other two entirely developed. It was a city almost entirely made of wood - dark, ancient oak logs as hard as steel, fresh-cut pine boards, beams of aromatic cedar, and trellises of young poplars. There were even birch-plank ice-fishing huts on the lake below, giving the impression of a city in two tiers. Everything was cloaked in snow, thin and sparkling. 

I'd worried we would be too late to see it.

I'd wondered, on the last leg of our journey, if there was anything I could do to save Luin.

We'd survived Desians so far because we'd encountered them in manageable numbers. I wasn't sure that we could beat back an army, especially one under Kvar's command. And if Luin was housing refugees, then Kvar was inevitable. My options seemed very slim. Even if I could convince the people of Luin to evacuate, where would they go? It was the dead of winter, and a city couldn't hide in a farmstead.

It had been easier with Palmacosta. I hadn't _remembered_ the raid happening so soon. But Luin stuck in my memory, because Luin had been flattened. 

I couldn't, in good conscience, just _leave things_ to play out.

I was still thinking when we settled into our inn rooms.

"We'll stay here tonight, and leave for the Tower of Mana in the morning," said Raine, "it should take a few days to get there. Genis, can you take care of the food shopping?" Genis nodded. "Lloyd, go with him. Colette and I will see to medical supplies and other miscellania. Kratos and Edie, I trust you can deal with the weapons and armor." What she meant, of course, was fix what could be fixed and replace what couldn't.

I saluted. "Yes, captain."

We dispersed. Better to get the shopping done right away than risk the storefronts closing.

"Look how efficient we are," I said, picking my way along behind Kratos on the cobble path. "Back in Triet this took us all day."

"You've traveled longer," said Kratos, "you have a better idea of what is and isn't necessary." 

I paused, eyes caught on a shop window a few doors down from the inn. _Happy New Year,_ read a signboard. People had stuck little slips of paper all around the message, stuck on with thumbprints of wax or sap. There were hundreds of them, in a dozen colors, covered in cramped handwriting. I wandered over, entirely distracted. The papers said things like _May my sister be nicer this year_ and _A new pair of shoes with a brass buckle_ and _Luck, love and money_ . They were all _wishes_. 

"We missed New Year's," I said.

"Yes, it was a week or two ago," said Kratos, unbothered.

"A week?" I stared around, wide-eyed. "What's the date?"

"January 10th, I believe."

"Oh," I said, swallowing hard. "Right."

The Battlecraft shop was one of the largest in town, partly because Luin were proud of their smiths, and partly because it also housed the biggest mercenary guild in Sylvarant. The Bluebacks, named for the herring, and later for blue capes, had founded the city. Not in the days of plenty, like Palmacosta and Triet, but in harder times. There were no cathedrals or old buildings in Luin - only the fountain.

"What's the matter?" Kratos asked, finally.

I startled, slicing my thumb on the edge of the sword I had been examining. I daubed it on my shirt-sleeve. "Hmm?"

"You're upset."

"Oh. No, not really," I said, trying to remember what I'd been doing a moment before. "My bad. Ah." The cut, long and shallow, continued to bleed, a trickle of red curling down the side of my palm and trickling to the floor. I scowled, scuffing out the drip so that it was disguised in the dark wood floor. Kratos sighed, and seized my elbow, his other hand coming up to hover over mine, glowing faintly white. And then the bleeding stopped. He released me, and I scrubbed my hand clean on my tunic. "Sorry about that."

"You're no use like this. Go back to the inn and rest," Kratos said.

"No, no, I'm all right, I just let my mind wander," I said, "er, hm... Raine probably needs a new cloak."

"...Yes, I said that."

"Oh."

"And you should get new vambraces."

I blinked. "What? The ones I've got are fine."

"They're worn out. You should be wearing steel, at any rate. You block with your forearms."

"If you say so," I agreed, wandering over to the display of modular armor. If you had money and time, the smart thing to do would get each piece custom-made. But there was good money in one-size-fits-most armor, and with enough leather straps and padding you could mostly get by. For an extra five hundred gald, metal pieces could be hammered to fit smaller circumferences, or larger ones. 

It was interesting how we acquired and shed pieces of clothing. Expensive or durable pieces - the ones I thought of as my friends' 'costumes', were repaired and kept up. Invisible items, like my leggings or Lloyd's undershirt, had been replaced at least three times over by now. And if you had to replace something - Colette had needed new boots after the Palmacosta ranch, because Magnius had fried the soles - you tried to find something that matched what you already had.

In Palmacosta, there had been consignment shops and seamstresses, and some wealthy people had owned an outfit for every day of the week. But most people still wore the same jacket, skirt, or trousers day in and day out, and changed out their shifts. Some things, like wedding dresses or mourning clothes, lived alongside a family for generations.

When my oldest sister had gotten married, she'd worn my mom's wedding dress. She had it adjusted, of course, had some of the brittle lace taken off and the beading re-done. I was eight, at the time, and had put a stop to dresses the moment I'd learned how to clothe myself. But when I'd seen her in the dress, the yellowed silk turned white, the crumpled hem smoothed and taken up, I'd thrown a fit, because she'd _ruined_ it. 

My mom had picked me up and carried me out of the dress shop, bewildered.

"You don't even _like_ dresses," she'd said. "You hate _marriage_. What's wrong?"

"...It's yours," I admitted, at last, "and she changed it. And... It won't be the same."

"Oh, sweetheart. Nothing stays the same. And it always will have _been_ mine, but now it's hers. And maybe one day, yours," she smiled.

"No! Marriage is chattel slavery!"

"Edith. You can't call things that aren't slavery 'slavery'."

And my oldest sister, a saint, had forgiven me in an instant. Even when I'd punched her fiance in the stomach and hid in the attic for two hours. You could get away with a lot, as the youngest child by twelve years. 

I stood there, comparing one kind of buckle to another, and frowned. Had that really happened? I could hardly remember, now. But I remembered the story, because my sister and mother had told it every year, right up until the end. And I had been a precocious child, but I found it hard to imagine an eight-year-old declaring marriage 'chattel slavery'. It was hard to know, now, what had happened, and what was the story.

My memory had never been good. Or, rather, it had never been good at remembering the things that mattered. I remembered Luin, a city in a game I'd played when I was twelve, but not the name of the street I lived on. I remembered the entire text of _Wind in the Willows_ , but not my father's face. 

The therapist I'd seen in college had told me that people with clinical depression often suffer periods of memory loss.

"These okay?" I said to Kratos, at last, holding up a pair for him to inspect.

"Yes, they're fine."

We were making our way back to the inn, Kratos' expression distant, when the words slipped from my mouth.

"Do you ever... forget stuff?"

He glanced at me. "...I suppose everyone does."

"I mean, like, important stuff."

"...Yes. I'm sure I have."

I nodded. "I... can't remember if my mom died on the 11th or the 12th. And it bothers me that I can't remember."

Kratos paused. "Did you lose her recently?"

"Last year. Two years, tomorrow, or..." I shrugged.

"Grief often clouds memory."

"Yeah, I guess so. But I still wish I remembered."

Kratos nodded. "I've often thought..." he began, then faltered, and then continued, "of anniversaries as islands in a stream. They... give a sense of distance. Do you know your mother's birthday?"

I nodded. "Yeah, April 1st." She'd always made so much of that.

"Celebrate her life, then, rather than mourn her death."

"It's easy to say," I smiled, "harder to do."

"Yes."

"Thanks," I said, belatedly. "I feel better for having said it out loud."

Kratos nodded.

Four thousand years.

What happened to the brain, when you lived that long? Did Kratos remember his parents? How many lives had he lived, since then, or had it all been one unbroken dream? What had he done to fill up all those hours? I had a sudden image of Kratos, seated in a room in Welgaia, not needing to eat or sleep, gathering dust as hundreds of years went by down on earth. 

How had he not gone insane?

Maybe he had gone insane, and it was just hard to tell.

Maybe he had stayed busy for four thousand years.

Maybe I'd ask him, later, once he was done trying to kill us.

"We've got a surprise," announced Genis, when he and Lloyd arrived back at the inn. Lloyd was weighed down with sacks of rice and barley and dry beans, bottles of oil and jars of jam and suet. Genis was carrying only two things - an armload of winter greens, and a lavender box. "The old lady in the store got sad when we said we missed New Year's Day! It's from last week but it's frosted so it should still be good." 

He put down the lavender box, glowing with pride, and opened it to reveal a little chocolate cake decorated with white icing ribbons, blanched almonds and miniscule marzipan rosettes. "She gave it to us for free," added Lloyd, grinning. "I think she _liked_ Genis."

"Shut up," said Genis, "she was nice."

"It's beautiful," said Colette, wistfully admiring the chocolate curls.

Lloyd's face fell by a fraction.

"Uh, well, it's old, so it probably doesn't taste that good anyway," he said.

"Lloyd!" Genis scolded, "You shouldn't complain about free things."

"Eat dinner before you have cake," I said, smiling. "I just kind of stewed all the things we had left. It tastes pretty good, though."

"Did you see the people fishing on the lake?" asked Lloyd. "That looked really fun!"

"I'm sure ice fishing is an important income for some residents," said Raine, breaking a bit of stale bread into her bowl as she spoke, "but even then I'd say the benefit doesn't outweigh the risks. The yield is small, and even small fluctuations in temperatures can cause instability in the surface. Ice is hardly a reliable place to stand, let alone a place to put a building."

"You just don't like it 'cause it's on water," Genis argued.

"I dunno, lakes like this usually have more than a foot of ice. I've seen people light bonfires on it, even," I said.

"What? Doesn't it melt the ice?" asked Lloyd.

I shrugged. "If it's cold enough it doesn't matter."

"That's astoundingly dangerous," said Raine, shaking her head. I had a feeling that rationality wasn't going to win this particular battle. "Perhaps in some regions it might get cold enough, but Luin is temperate, and come February..."

"We're not gonna go on the ice," Genis said, rolling his eyes, "it's fine."

"Aw," frowned Lloyd. "But even kids are playing out there!"

"Maybe we can go when we come back," suggested Colette, "I could catch you if anything happened."

Lloyd brightened. "Yeah! We should totally do that!"

* * *

"I'm seriously sick of winter," complained Lloyd.

"I hear if you keep saying that, spring will come faster," I said.

"Ha, ha."

We'd been traveling for two days, and were fast approaching the Tower of Mana. At first it had been invisible against the brown-white of the mountains, but now it stood out from the grey backdrop like a skyscraper made of gingerbread and white icing. I tried to count the windows - a hundred stories? More? In a world without the Tower of Salvation, it would have been a giant. Instead, it looked distinctly stubby, especially when seen from right at the base.

It was ringed by mountains, first, huge and white-capped, and then by a forest of unusual trees. They were evergreens, each one as tall as the steeple in Palmacosta, with very pale blue-green needles, thin and soft to the touch. The boughs were heavy with snow, and from time to time would bend and slough it off in a sound like a body being thrown from an overpass.

"These are cloud-pine trees," said Raine, reverent. "Once, the ash from these trees was used to make levitation devices. The crystals pressed from the ash were exceptionally suited to a particular kind of magical matrix... A few still exist. No longer functional, of course, but beautiful all the same."

"They smell kind of like... medicine," I said.

"Yes, the sap can be used as an astringent," said Raine. Then she brightened. "The resin from this tree, powdered and treated with nitrites produces a lovely pale blue pigment. It's very rare, of course, but at one time the domed ceiling of the Martel Cathedral was painted cloud-pine blue."

"Ugh, who cares?" mumbled Lloyd.

"My grandmother has a figurine painted with cloud-pine," said Colette, brightly. "It's a really pretty color!"

"The needles are really soft," said Genis. "It's not at all like the pine trees back home."

"Priests used to use them as bedding," said Raine, "rather than grass or chicken feathers."

"Sounds itchy," said Lloyd. Raine scowled. "Well, it does!"

The steps up to the tower were broad and deep, flanked by pillars that had once held braziers to light the way. Now they housed birds' nests and small colonies of hibernating mammals. The steps came onto a wide avenue, large enough that a thousand people could stand shoulder-to-shoulder and still have room to breathe. The doors, burnished bronze and gilt, stood fifteen feet tall in an arched doorway. At head height there was a raised golden disk, heavily engraved and set with some kind of arcane lock.

"Marvelous," breathed Raine, "so this is the Tower of Mana, built to gaze upon the Tower of Salvation."

And she was off like a shot, inspecting the ornate statuary and the enormous stained-glass windows. Unlike the others, the facade of the Tower of Mana seemed perfectly preserved. I knew it'd been built in the hundred years following Spiritua's regeneration, and had been a central house of worship for at least another hundred and fifty, but how had it remained in such good condition? Was it the remoteness? Magic? Monsters?

"Yes, I think it is," said Colette, picking up the thread of a conversation I'd not followed.

"Huh?" Lloyd frowned up at the tower.

"Honestly, Lloyd!" complained Genis, "We studied it in class before!"

"It's a tower that was used as a temple by the Church of Martel to offer prayers to the Tower of Salvation," said Colette, but there was something odd about her tone - not like she was recalling a lesson, but a memory of having stood here, in contemplation, in some imagined past. "Although," she shook herself, "it was closed a long time ago since monsters started appearing inside."

"I simply _must_ go inside," said Raine, returning to corral us towards the door.

"It's almost certainly a seal," said Colette.

"But there's no oracle stone, noted Genis. 

There was a pause. "It's locked," said Raine, in the way someone else might say 'you shot my dog'. "Colette, you try."

Colette did, to no effect.

"We need the key," said Kratos, the voice of defeat.

"We could break a window," I suggested. "They're not _that_ high up."

"Don't you _dare_ ," gasped Raine, "those are hundreds of years old!"

"Could you get in with your... thing?" Lloyd waved vaguely. "It's wherever you can see, right? Then you could open the door from the other side."

I shrugged. "I can try."

After extracting _many_ promises that I wouldn't break anything, Raine allowed me to climb onto the nearest windowsill and rub the glass clean with my shirtsleeve. 

I'd gone _through_ stuff before. Or, rather, I'd taken a straight line through something that most people would have to go around or over. I had no idea if I could get through a solid pane of glass. I _might_ just shatter it on accident, but I didn't mention that to Raine. "Be careful," she prompted, "there may be monsters guarding the entrance. And any artifacts inside may be very delicate, so-"

I toppled sideways onto tile.

My ears stung with the sudden silence.

I got up. The hall was dark, and lined with shelves, pillars, and unlit braziers. Dust lay in a thick carpet over everything, throttling sound, and turning the world grey. The only light was the dim haze of the windows. There was a shape at the nearest one, nothing but a silhouette. After a moment, a gloved hand made furious scrubbing movements against the glass. I hopped up onto the sill. "Lloyd? Lloyd, I'm inside, I'm fine."

If Lloyd was responding, I couldn't hear him.

I paused, and then moved a little sideways, breathing hard to fog the glass.

 _Inside, okay,_ I wrote, the words backwards. 

The response, painstakingly slow: _Good! Door._

I laughed, hopping off the sill and making for the door, and finding nothing but featureless stone.

There was a door, of course, but this side was plain and unadorned. There was no sign of a handle or a latch. _Damn_. I tried to work my fingers into the seam, and pull, but to no effect. From this side, deprived of two senses, I could feel the magic in it. There'd be no opening this door without the key, I knew. I sighed, and then sneezed.

I spent a moment combing the shelves, curious how these books had survived so long. There were thousands of them, leatherbound, some as huge as paving stones and some as thin as pamphlets. I couldn't read the pages in the dark, and didn't risk lighting a flame, not when they felt so brittle and dry. I tried to read the spines with the tips of my fingers, but it was impossible. 

There was the oracle stone, in the center of the room, and a piece of magitechnology with three platforms around a central disk. They were inactive, I could tell that much. There was ambient mana in the air, but the stone and platforms were lifeless as dead rock. The doors further in were sealed, too, in the same smooth, dense material as the door at the Mausoleum. 

I tried to light a brazier, but nothing caught, as if there wasn't enough oxygen in the air to carry a flame.

I inspected everything - the walls, the shelves, the other windows - and even made another try at the door with one of my smaller daggers. But soon I had to resign myself that there was nothing I could do. I hopped back up on the sill.

But... Frost was clouding the window, and Lloyd was obscuring the spot I had already cleared. _Trapped_ , said a little voice at the back of my head. 

Maybe it was the oppressive silence, or the darkness, or that I couldn't hear the others. But I was suddenly more afraid than I had been in months, a kind of animal terror that I couldn't explain or reason with. If I couldn't see out, I couldn't get out. I would die here. I would suffocate. I would _suffocate_. My throat closed even as I tried to breathe. 

_Move!_ I wrote, heart pounding.

Lloyd's shadow disappeared, and the next second I was out in the cold and noise.

I fell to my knees, trying to punch down the rising panic. Someone reached for me and I dropped to a spot nearly at the staircase, breathing hard. "Sorry," I said, bracing myself on one of the pillars and trying to get to my feet. "I couldn't see out for a second and I just panicked."

"Oh!" Lloyd looked back at the window. "Oh, crap, I'm sorry."

"No, no, it was fine, completely irrational," I said, trying to get a hold of myself. "Sorry. The thing's locked by magic. There's no latch or anything on the other side."

Raine sighed. "I guessed that would be it."

"Maybe you could take people through, like with the traps?" suggested Genis.

"No," I said, at once, "no, I don't think I can do that again. And probably not with other people. It's like trying to hold someone up while treading water." I had only been in there for a few minutes, but the idea of going back through the window terrified me. 

Raine shuddered. "We'll just have to find the key, then."

"Oh! The pastors at the House of Salvation might know," suggested Colette.

Lloyd scowled. "But that's way back near Asgard!"

"We can ask at the chapel in Luin," said Kratos, evenly. 

I grimaced. Everyone else was disappointed, too, and for good reason. It had been a long journey here, and it would be at least two days back, and so we had walked all this way for nothing. Only Raine, who was still inspecting the facade, didn't seem to think it was a waste.

* * *

"Oh, no."

"This is..." Lloyd drifted into horrified silence.

Acrid smoke billowed up into the pale sky, oily and dark. The skeletons of buildings still smoldered, ash coating the wreckage like snow. Craters billowed horrible grey fog that hung around the ankles of what buildings still remained. Roofs had collapsed inwards. Some buildings had been leveled entirely, foundations torn up and thrown into the lake. The surface had been shattered so that huge drifts, brown with smog, drifted slowly across the surface of the frigid water.

The inn, where we had stayed before, had been torched from the inside, so that the shell remained, quivering in the wind without its supports. The door had been kicked in, and the second floor had collapsed on the first. Hours must have passed since the fire burned itself out, but the timber trapped beneath the rubble, shielded from the air, was still hot.

Bridges had been burned and torn up. Whole avenues were clogged with rubble. Somewhere, a dam had broken, and the smallest of the three islands was nearly submerged, air condensing into a slick, filthy sheen on the surface of the water.

There were bodies. Not everyone had been taken to the ranch - charred corpses were hidden in the soot. Men and women floated in the water, faces bloated and blue with cold. In the wreckage of the weapons shop, the body of a small dog had been crushed nearly flat by a falling beam. 

The fountain had been destroyed, the side burst and frozen puddles swollen in the dirt. 

Sheena lay on a piece of broken fencepost, smeared black and brown with soot and blood. It looked as if she had crawled out of the ravine beside the fountain, soaked and shivering, and been unable to go further. She was still, and pale, and for a moment I thought she was dead.

"She's still alive," I breathed, "Raine, please, she's still alive."

She was shivering minutely, eyelids twitching. Her heartbeat was slow, labored, but there. 

"She may have been part of this," said Raine, "you-"

" _Please_ , heal her," I begged, "she wouldn't. I promise."

Her life was a candle down to the wick - a tiny, flickering flame of light in a vast darkness.

"You don't die like this," I said, my head bent over hers. I felt as if my body was on fire - that compared to her sputtering little light I was an inferno, huge and wild. "You don't die like this. You live. You live and do good, you have to live. You _have_ to live." The space between my ears was filled with static. "You have to live. You live. You have a job to do. You have a life to live." I was crying, tears hissing across my skin, hot and painful.

She was still dimming.

" _Raine,_ " I said, blind with tears and desperate rage.

A wave rolled over me, cool and velvet-soft, and doused the fire in me. For a moment I scrabbled in the darkness, thinking that it had put out that little flicker of life in Sheena, too, but when the smoke had cleared, Sheena was alive, whole, and stuttering into wakefulness.

"Wh-wh..." she struggled to breathe, coughing gobs of black gunk into the dirt as she dragged herself up against a stone, eyes wide and horrified. She'd been winded, and her voice came out hoarse. "Desians, you have to..." she stared around, "No..."

"What happened?" asked Lloyd, kneeling at her other side.

Sheena hunched in on herself, a hunted look in her eyes. "If... you want to finish me off, here's your chance." She spat another gob of congealed blood. It landed on a still-vivid patch of her lavender jacket. "I can't fight you."

"Yes, we know," said Raine, simply, "I just healed you."

Sheena choked on another cough, for a moment, before staring up at Raine, bewildered. "What? Wh-why?"

"A good question," said Raine, all gentle coldness, "why, Edie?"

"Because," I said, quietly, "she's a summoner. Aren't you, Sheena?"

"Impossible," said Raine, "summoning has been lost from this world for hundreds of years."

"But not... from mine," managed Sheena. She lifted a hand, carefully, deliberately not a show of force. And then Corrine popped into the air, a point of golden light.

"-show you!" He paused, looking suddenly bewildered. "What happened? Sheena!"

"I had to dismiss you," Sheena said, face crushingly gentle as Corrine climbed up her chest, his many tails dropping motes of silver-turquoise light. "You almost got killed. Sorry."

"They got everybody," said Corrine, miserably. "They took them."

Sheena nodded. "Yeah."

Corrine seemed to notice us, then. "Hey! You're - back off!"

"It's okay," Sheena soothed, placing a hand on top of Corrine's head to stop him from leaping at us. "They healed me, Corrine."

"What happened?" asked Lloyd, again. "We're not going to hurt you."

"The Desians... attacked," said Sheena, more pained by the memory than by her injuries. "They - the people of Luin, they had sheltered a refugee from the Asgard ranch. They must have sent hundreds," she said, voice tight, "they had explosives, too... They raided the homes and burned the shops and took everyone who was still alive. And then this... monster, it came out of nowhere, chasing this old man, and I tried to..."

Something shimmered in the soot near her boot. I ran a finger through the loop of the key. It was huge, ornamental - the handle shaped like the symbol of Martel. I palmed it, and slid it into the band of my belt. 

"A monster," repeated Colette.

"It was huge, and... crying, I think."

"Clara," I said, without thinking.

"You tried to help," said Colette. "I'm glad you're okay."

Sheena shuffled in place. "I..." she paused, and then shifted onto her knees, and dropped into a groveling bow. "I know it's a selfish, unreasonable thing to say, but... please. I owe the people of this city for food and lodging. I'm okay, but... they're not going to be." She turned her face up, wretched and pleading. "Please. Help me save these people. If... If you agree, I'll declare a truce with you and help you in any way I can."

Her eyes found me, and then Colette.

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah, all right."

"Lloyd," Raine snapped, "are you serious? She tried to kill Colette."

Colette shook her head. "I agree with Lloyd! And she didn't kill me, anyway."

"Colette!"

"Kratos?" asked Lloyd.

Kratos sighed. He could see the foregone conclusion, and no point in fighting it. "Yes, I suppose so."

"Ah... um, I'm sorry, Raine!" burst Genis. "I want to help!"

I grinned sheepishly in Raine's direction. "You already know what I think."

"Fine," said Raine, sharp and annoyed, in the way that she often was when everyone around her was being irrational, "Do as you wish. I suppose if we look at it another way, it does mean we can keep a close eye on her."

Sheena clambered to her feet, still a little unsteady. "Hmph. Well, you'd better keep a close eye, or you might lose your head while you sleep." It was in poor taste, but being knocked out could mess with your head.

"Yay!" said Colette, hands clasped, "I'm so happy! You're Sheena, right?"

Sheena looked sideways at her, trying to figure out of Colette was joking. "Y...yeah," she said, glancing at me. "Sheena Fujibayashi."

"I'm glad to finally meet you," Colette beamed.

"I mean, you met her before," said Lloyd.

"Yes, but as friends!"

Sheena flushed. "I - look, we should get going."

"You're not going to make it far like that," said Raine, grudgingly. "We should find somewhere to camp. You're exhausted."

"Yeah," I agreed, fingers glancing over the key hidden in my belt. "Let's move, alright?"

* * *

"Edie."

I looked up. "Raine?"

"Why do we need a summoner?"

I smiled, lopsided. "To talk to the summon spirits, of course."

"Why?" she asked again, although she couldn't help the glimmer of academic interest.

"To figure out who did this."

Raine glanced back into the darkness, in the direction where Luin might have been. "We know who did this."

"No," I said, "not this... _This_ ," I waved vaguely at the air. At Colette. "Lloyd's right, Raine. Someone built those temples. And someone made this ritual."

Raine went quiet for a long moment. "It may not be ideal, but the regeneration has to happen."

"I know."

"Sometimes," she said, after another pause, "you have to find peace in not knowing."

I looked sideways at her. 

"And you believe that?"

Raine grimaced.

"Yeah," I said, scuffing a toe in the dirt. "That's what I thought."

* * *

"Hm."

It was our second day of travel. Lloyd and Genis were walking together, as were Sheena and Colette. Raine was still in a bad mood with me, and so I drifted into Kratos' orbit. I followed his gaze. Colette was leaning in to speak to Sheena, face alight, cheeks pink, and Sheena was looking down at her, half cautious, half flattered by the attention. 

"Are you worried about Colette?" I asked.

He grunted, a noise that was almost a chuckle. "No, I don't think the Chosen is in any danger."

I hummed in thought, because Kratos usually didn't make any kind of noise unless he was being judgmental about something. "Okay, what's the matter, then?"

He gave me a withering look. 

"Fine, we'll walk in silence."

I kept staring at Sheena and Colette, trying to work out what he might have seen. There was nothing suspect about them. Sheena was still cautious, and Colette was friendly, but for all the world they looked like a pair of teenagers on a first date, flustered and excitable. 

I shrugged.

"Another Ranch, then."

"I thought we were going to walk in silence."

"Ahh, you're a bad sport."

Kratos snorted. 

"I've been practicing my yodeling-"

"She told the truth, didn't she."

I frowned, trying to work backwards to a place where that made sense. "Oh! The other world thing. Yeah, pretty sure."

"Her... pet will be of little use."

"And if she makes pacts with other summon spirits?"

Kratos went silent. "That would be... interesting," he said.

"I wonder when the last summoner was around. One who actually made pacts, I mean." I fell into silence - because Raine had said Cleo III had summoned Sylph. But that couldn't be right, because Mithos still held his pacts. Maybe it had been a temporary alliance? Maybe he had reformed the pact, after Cleo III had passed. 

Maybe Cleo III had just been another one of Mithos' shapes. He did seem to like playacting at mortality.

 _Like Marie Antoinette,_ I thought, dimly, _and her mock dairy farm._

"I wouldn't know," said Kratos.

* * *

"Um. Edie."

I looked up. Sheena fidgeted with the tail of a hair ribbon.

"Hey," I said, closing my book. "What's up?"

"Do you... why did the Desians take the people of the city?"

I blinked. "Why ask me?"

"Well, you... know things, right?" she asked, defiant.

I drummed my fingers on the cover of _Parallel Integration of Elements_. "I... can't tell you."

Sheena scowled. "But you know, don't you?."

"I can't say," I pleaded, genuinely pained. My hand went to the little bump on my sternum. The Exsphere was always slightly warmer than the skin around it. I didn't want to be the one to explain to her. It was a coward's decision, but if I told Sheena, I'd have to tell the others. And then I'd have to explain _how_ I knew, and the only way out of that was a lie I didn't want to tell. 

I couldn't stand the thought of them believing I'd been a Desian.

"Fine," huffed Sheena, and stomped off again.

I opened my book again. My eyes fixed on a splotch of ink and hung there while my mind wandered. I wasn't a Desian, of course, but I was - or had been - a white American. My family had profited, however indirectly, off the legacy of American slavery. I reaped the benefits of my whiteness just by existing, and in a way, it was the same now. I was a half-elf - long-lived, with a natural gift for magic, and I had an Exsphere with a key crest. I might not have produced the Exsphere, but I still wore it.

Even as a child, I'd looked for parallels between American racism and the themes of the game, but things didn't and couldn't line up, because it hadn't been made in America. It hadn't been written by Americans. I might have been surrounded by people who looked phenotypically Western, and spoke American English, but Tales of Symphonia had been made in Japan. And if I thought about the implications of that for too long, I went cross-eyed.

So here I was, in a fantasy world, trying to figure out how things here might have lined up with the things I knew. 

In Tethe'alla, half-elves suffered. They suffered here, too. Harley suffered. But there was also a caste of half-elves who thrived on the suffering and oppression of humans.

I realized, after a long while, that I was doing Aselia a disservice by trying to flatten out the dynamics into patterns I recognized. Nothing could be like the world I knew, because the world itself was so fundamentally different. There were superficial similarities, of course, but I might as well have been on another planet.

The thought dropped on me like a lead weight: I _was_ on another planet.

Had I not realized that, on a subconscious level?

I hadn't. In my head, I had been _in_ Sylvarant, which was _in_ Tales of Symphonia, which was _on Earth_ . But that wasn't true, was it? I was as distant from Earth as the stars. I might have known the story of Sylvarant, but I didn't _own_ the history. This world wasn't mine. I had forgotten that - or maybe I had never learned it.

History was full of villains and heroes, but mostly it was full of scholars who had failed to imagine other people complexly. 

I _wasn't_ a historian. I wasn't even a scholar. 

But it mattered, the way I thought about Sylvarant, because the people here were real. The people of Luin were real, and they were suffering. Lloyd, Sheena, Colette, Raine, Kratos, Genis - they were alive, too, and every moment of every day they were making decisions that would change who they were tomorrow. I couldn't let myself fall into the trap of thinking of them as _characters_. Because if they were characters, who was I?

 _A brain in a jar?_ I wondered. _An observer? A spectator? A god?_

No. They had to be people. Because that was the only way I could be a person, too.

* * *

"Genis, are you okay?"

Genis looked up. We were very close now. In a few hours we'd be at the ranch.

"I..." he twiddled his fingers. "I've been doing some math. And... when we rescued those people from the Ranch, before, there were about two hundred of them." 

I nodded. It'd been... an experience. Genis and I had been isolated from the others for hours. I had spent most of that time in a state of high-strung fear and aggression, terrified for the hundreds of people I had, suddenly, been put in charge of. I'd worried about Genis most of all - because at the end of the day, you could only care that deeply about so many people.

"The population of Luin had to be almost three thousand people," he said, throttling the words into a squeak. "What... what if we can't... We could barely help everyone before, and that was with Neil and the Palmacostan army-"

I offered a hand, palm-up. Genis swallowed, and then laced his fingers into mine. I squeezed hard. 

"Let's start thinking, then." I'd been trying _not_ to think about it. "What would help?"

"...Raine," Genis said, "if she could help get people out, then..."

But if things shook out the way they did before, Raine would need to deal with the machines.

I bit my lip. 

"Kratos was there with her last time," I said, "he's got a mind like a steel trap. If she can tell him what to do in advance, then he could probably do it. You said he almost scored perfect on that academy thing, right? Then he should be fine."

"...I wish..." Genis began. I jostled our hands, peering down at him. "I wish we didn't have to make these kinds of choices."

I sighed. "Me too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It may be a little while before I update again. Originally, I'd written all the way to the Tower of Salvation. I had been following the pattern of events as it happened in the game for convenience's sake, and the result had felt very contrived and unsatisfying. A lot of the pivotal encounters in the Asgard ranch don't work at all in writing with a naturalistic approach. I guess this is kind of a warning that the path of the story is soon going to be taking a harsh detour...


	9. Asgard Ranch

The Asgard ranch was bigger. Or maybe it was that it was built on a hill, protruding up into the sky, with long lines of sight in every direction. The walls - which were too big to be called fences - were at least thirty feet tall and punctuated every two hundred yards by watchtowers. The forest, a mixture of dark evergreens and skeletal oaks, grew thinner as it approached the walls, stumps pockmarking areas of bare hillside.

Lloyd - wearing a grey-green blanket as a cloak, at my request - climbed trees for a better view, but neither of us returned with good news.

"There isn't a back gate or side entrance or anything," Lloyd said, despairing. "There's the main one and then maybe two hundred feet of yard before you even reach a door."

"That's what I saw, too," I agreed, "but... there's gotta be another way in, right? What if someone's visiting discreetly, or there's some kind of emergency? You can't have the whole thing bottleneck at one exit."

"It's likely there are others," Kratos agreed, "but without a blueprint of the ranch..."

"There are patrols out," suggested Lloyd, "we could ambush one and dress up as Desians."

"Wouldn't they notice?" asked Sheena. "There has to be some form of ID or something. We'd have to wait for a guard change."

I gnawed at my lip. "Hey, Sheena, weird question. If Corrine went inside on his own, then was unsummoned, or whatever, could he just pop back out here?"

"...Yeah, but it's not like he could do much," Sheena frowned, "And if something happened to him while he was on his own, I'd have no way of knowing."

"What if I go with him?" I said. "I can be pretty much invisible. We sneak in, I get info... Corrine poofs and comes back to you out here with an update. Corrine can't take objects with him, can he?"

"He can," Sheena said, "he's got his bell, remember? That's something he wears, it's not... part of him, or whatever."

"You can't operate the computers," Raine pointed out, following my train of thought and forseeing a dangerous derailment. "Even if you get inside, you may not be able to retrieve any useful information. They're unlikely to have the blueprint of the ranch posted on a wall for you to take."

"Then teach me," I said, "if you can figure them out with no prior experience, then surely I can make do with your advice."

"...All right."

"Sheena, are you okay sending Corrine with me as a precaution? If I get trapped or something, I'd like to be able to let you guys know so you don't do anything dangerous."

"Um... I'll have to ask him."

"Oh. Right," I said, embarrassed.

There was a moment's awkward pause, and then Corrine burst into existence.

Sheena dropped into a crouch, relaying my plan. Corrine listened, thoughtful, and then turned beady black eyes on me. He was just as sentient as I was, and I felt rightly ashamed that I'd asked Sheena to loan him out to me like a sheepdog. 

"You're the one from the wind temple," he said. "Okay. But if you do anything weird I'm going back to Sheena right away, okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, absolutely."

"We should make camp," Kratos said, "we don't know how long this will take. Lloyd, you had an overhead view of the patrols. Where would you recommend we set up camp?" I could recognize a pop quiz when I heard one. 

Lloyd flushed, half with the pride of being asked and half with the effort of critical thought. "Um. To the south-east, that way," he pointed, "there's a kind of a valley area that they don't check, probably because it's a hassle to get up and down. It might be different for night patrols, though."

"It's good you've taken that into account," said Kratos. "Very well. Lead us there."

Once we'd set up a perimeter, Raine started me on a computing crash course.

"You should sit in on it too," I said, to Corrine, "two heads are better than one."

Corrine seemed pleased to be included. "I have a good memory," he agreed.

"You listen carefully, too," Raine said to me, eyes narrowed, "I won't have you slacking off just because Corrine is studying, too."

"This isn't a math class," I said, smiling.

"Don't waste time fooling around," scolded Kratos, from somewhere near the campfire. 

I listened obediently. I took detailed notes, too, because some of the stuff - like how they organized file types or how to tell if a program was keyed to a certain system - didn't sound much like the computers I was used to. 

"The Palmacosta ranch largely used physical tokens as a means of access and encryption rather than codes, but we can't assume it will be the same here. Depending on how long you take, or if you have to obtain a token by force, they may detect your access sooner rather than later. If that happens, and you're shut out of the system, the best thing may be to find another console."

"Hey," piped up Sheena, who had been sitting cross-legged beside Corrine, "I get that you have some kind of invisibility spell, but what's going to hide Corrine?"

I beamed. "If Corrine stays touching my body, I can kind of stretch it over him. Look," I said, pawing around for a minute before producing a twig. I held it up, for her inspection, and concentrated. The spell spread from just below my first knuckle and climbed up the twig, the air eating away at it until there was nothing at all. The tips of my fingers - half visible, half invisible - had the look of an object refracted as it passed through water.

"It's... light magic, right?" Sheena guessed, feeling for the twig. 

"Yeah," I said, "it's a bit like... wrapping the light around you. That and teleportation are really my two tricks."

"I was wondering about that," said Sheena. "Both of those artes would be invaluable where I come from. Do you have to be a half-elf to use them?"

I glanced at Raine, shrugging. "I don't know. They come naturally to me."

"I haven't been able to reproduce it," Raine said, frowning. "Edie isn't classically trained in the magical artes, so her skill is a bit of a mystery."

"They'd be really useful tools for a spy," Sheena pointed out, just this side of accusatory.

"That's rich, considering," I said, crossing my arms.

"Hey, at least _I'm_ up front about what I'm doing!"

"Distrust from all camps," I sighed. "I'm only joking," I said to Raine, who was bristling, "only joking. Sorry, continue the lesson."

Raine frowned. "I think that's all I can teach you," she said, apologetic, "even my own experience is limited to the Palmacosta ranch. You'll have to use your best judgment."

I nodded, heart stuttering. 

"Right," I said, climbing to my feet. "We should get going, then. Once more unto the breach, and all."

"At least eat first," protested Genis, waving his ladle at me like a magic wand.

"...Okay," I said, "Eat first, and _then_ the breach."

* * *

"It's stuffy in here," complained Corrine. "Can't you put your hood down?"

Maybe one day I'd be able to push the cloak through layers of clothing, but I wasn't that good at magic yet. For me to hide Corrine, he had to be touching my skin. Right now he was wrapped around my neck like a travel pillow, invisible whiskers tickling the underside of my chin as he tried to get a good look around. His fur was short and coarse and very _itchy_.

"I don't want to go around dropping hair or getting caught on stuff," I said. "You'll have to deal with it for now."

The trees disappeared as we neared the gates, and the wind grew louder. I could walk very quietly, but the ground was littered with dead leaves and twigs and lumps of frozen snow. I was grateful for the wind, and grateful for the boredom of gate guards.

The gates were closed, but there was plenty of wall for the climbing.

"Careful," hissed Corrine, "it's electrified!"

I pulled my hand back at the last moment. "Shoot." I peered up, trying to spot the top of the wall from my low angle. I couldn't remember if it had been spiked or barbed or anything, but if I moved fast that wouldn't be a problem. "Hold on tight."

I didn't like to teleport long distances vertically unless I had to, because I retained momentum on either side of a jump, and a moment of absentmindedness could lead to a painful fall. That was mostly a problem in combat, when there was a danger of getting hit by something airborne and losing my concentration. Doing it like this, where I could see where I was going and unlikely to run into anything unexpected, was much easier.

I leapt up, flashed into the air a foot or so above the top of the wall - it was marked at intervals with little steel orbs humming with electricity - and then came back down again, landing gently on the packed earth.

"That's cool and all," said Corrine, "but couldn't you have just gone through the gap in the fence? You said before that you can even go through windows."

I looked back at the wall and flushed. I hadn't even thought about it, subconsciously categorizing an electric fence as impassible. "Man, that's embarrassing," I said, "aggh, let's pretend that's what I did, okay?"

"Okay," agreed Corrine, highly critical of the whole situation.

We navigated the yard, which was mostly deserted. It was mostly dark, sparsely illuminated by blue-white halogen lamps. There were a few large shipping containers half-buried in the snow, closed and unlabeled, with no hints as to what might be inside. Guards stood at open doorways, blowing on their hands and complaining about the weather. 

I learned quickly that invisibility was a very forgiving skill.

Automatic door opening on its own? Buggy magitechnology. Disappearing keycard? You must have just misplaced it. The sounds of a disembodied argument? Your imagination trying to make sense of meaningless echoes. 

"They must be really dumb," said Corrine, "they don't notice anything."

"Well, they probably don't know 'invisible intruder' is an option," I said. "You can't look for stuff if you have no idea what you're looking for."

We found a console in a small room with a lot of monitors. It looked like a guardstation, but there was no one on duty. "They've got security cameras," I said, frowning. "But not that many. Maybe there's another set somewhere?"

"Can't be," said Corrine, "that area over there is clear on the other side of the ranch. What would be the point in keeping them separate?"

"Good point. I wonder if there's a map..." 

There was no physical mouse and keyboard, no cursor, but a screen of hard light that hovered a few inches from the surface of the console. There were buttons in the air to push, but no tactile feedback to indicate that you'd pushed them. It was a weird sensation. The console itself was an enormous rectangle, table-height, with a huge dish in the middle.

"It's the dot-see-el-why file," Corrine said, impatient. "See?"

The map appeared in the air, visible in three dimensions. It was much, much larger than I'd anticipated.

I bent down at an awkward angle, finally propping my foot up on the edge of the console so that I could use my thigh as a writing surface. I wasn't an artist, but I could reproduce straight lines. I marked the security cameras with big pictorial eyes, just in case I hadn't communicated the idea well enough in writing. 

"I don't see any other ways in or out," I said at last, frowning. That wasn't right, was it? There had been a secret passageway.

Corrine shifted at my collar. "...Hmm, remember what Raine said about legacy files? Maybe there's another version of this somewhere. 'Cause there are those doors here and there that don't go anywhere!"

"I'm glad you're here," I said fervently, backing out and trying to remember Raine's instructions for recovering old data. She'd explained to me how deleted stuff wasn't _really_ deleted - instead it was earmarked as available for overwrite, meaning new files could use that space on the computer to save new data. I didn't really understand it, but she'd been explicit in how to search for old copies of the same file, if you knew the name.

"See?" said Corrine, delighted. 

"This is from like twenty years ago," I said, bemused. "That's a long time for it not to get overwritten."

"Why are you complaining? This is what we're looking for," scoffed Corrine. "Besides, it's not like these places change a lot year to year. They don't have to improve anything when everyone around them is still using sticks and rocks!"

"All right, no need to crap on Sylvarant," I said, scratching out the auxiliary passageways and frowning at my handwriting. "Hey, this thing here means it needs some kind of key, right?"

Corrine squinted. "Yeah, you're right. I wonder if they'd even have it anymore, 'cause this is so old."

I squinted. "I wonder why they stopped using them?"

Corrine pointed a little paw. "Click on that thing." A window full of incomprehensible file info appeared. Corrine thought for a moment. "That thing there is different. Under 'authorization', I think." I pulled over the information from the first map to compare and contrast. Corrine was right - apart from a few understandable differences in file size and specifications, the only real difference was the authorization code. I squinted at both - and then felt very stupid.

"KVR1," I said, "and PNM0. Kvar is the guy who runs the ranch now, but Pronyma must have run it before him. Huh." I clicked around, searching for other files from before and after that twenty year mark. A picture started to form in my head.

Kvar, newly appointed Grand Cardinal, takes over Asgard, overhauls the ranch, and starts the Angelus project. Then, only a few years in, Anna escapes with Kratos, taking Kvar's research with her. No wonder he was so desperate to get it back - that failure must have been humiliating for him.

"What are you looking for?" asked Corrine.

"Text documents," I said, "or anything that might be old reports. If I go back far enough... ugh, it's password locked."

"Try 'password'," Corrine suggested.

"No way, that couldn't possibly -" _Bing!_ "Seriously?"

"Maybe a whole bunch of stuff got locked at the same time," suggested Corrine, "so it'd be a hassle to think up unique keys for everything."

"Or whoever did this is just an idiot," I said, scrolling through pages of unreadable data and blocks of text. "Oh! See, here. When this was made, Kvar was a researcher. Huh. I wonder why he was promoted? It doesn't look like he was that special."

"Does it matter?" asked Corrine. "We need to find that key!"

"Right, right. Huh. It looks like he closed down a couple of big sections. Maybe they weren't being used? The work order is pretty vague. Umm... obsolete access... filing... Ugh, it looks like they probably destroyed the keys, if there were any."

Corrine made a discontented noise. "Well... if it's been that long, I bet you could force your way in. And nothing around these areas is being monitored, so it wouldn't hurt to try!"

I nodded. "Then... you should take these notes back to Sheena. I should do some more snooping around. How about I meet you guys... here, in an hour," I pointed, "It looks like they only do production during the day. If you can't get there, then I'll check here, near 'primary processing'. And if I don't see you guys for three hours, then I'll come back outside. Okay?"

Corrine nodded, wriggling out from my hood so that I could tuck the many sheets of paper into his collar. He became visible as he stepped out onto my sleeve, golden fur shining even in the low light. "Don't get caught," he warned me.

"You neither."

He disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

I copied down the map a second time - I could see it by holding the paper against my sleeve or in a gloved hand - and wandered out of the guard station. 

The Asgard ranch had the same cloying, antiseptic smell as the Palmacosta ranch. After traveling so long outdoors, the stale air was suffocating. But I followed the smell of disinfectant, because I knew that was also the direction of the captives. You didn't need a map at all, not once you caught the stench of human misery.

In Palmacosta, there'd been one centralized holding room with dozens of individual cells. Asgard was much bigger, sectioned instead into four long rooms lined with bunks in the walls like cubbyholes. It would have been reminiscent of one of those Japanese pod hotels, except that there were no doors and the bunks had the approximate dimensions of a casket - and about as many creature comforts.

Like at the Palmacosta ranch, the only form of plumbing was a long, grated strip of floor. The difference was that the floor here had the look of being hosed down on a regular basis, so that the main thoroughfare was clean while filth still pooled and festered in cracks and corners. The captives - or what little I could see of them as they tried to rest - looked cleaner, too, but not healthier.

There were thousands of people here. How were we supposed to get them all out safely?

I crept back through the ranch, giving the 'primary processing facilities' a wide berth and making for 'packaging'. To the southwest of the packaging area was a disused maintenance tunnel.

From what little I'd gleaned, it looked as if the ranch had once used three separate waste processing areas - one of flammable waste, one for non-flammable waste, and one specifically for 'organic waste', which I presumed was either sewage or corpses. But twenty years ago, Kvar had collapsed the 'flammable waste' processing in with the 'organic waste' processing, which was a long way of saying that an entire wing of the facility had been shuttered and blocked off. It was a waste of resources to demolish infrastructure that might come in handy down the road, but it was also contrary to Desian economic policy to maintain it.

That meant there were all kinds of unmonitored maintenance passages coming to and from that part of the facility. 

The packaging area turned out to be a large warehouse space - a layer cake of steel platforms, narrow staircases, ladders and catwalks. Each tier was a network of conveyor belts and mechanical arms polishing, priming, setting and packaging exspheres. The only way you could see the whole thing at once was from the catwalk at the very top, which was made up for a foreman to observe those at work.

It was nearing midnight, and the factory was quiet. 

I wondered, why not operate at night? It looked as if everything was automated. Maybe it had something to do with the greater workings of the ranch itself.

I climbed down to the lowest tier of the packaging area, and started searching for the door.

The ground floor was entirely covered in a carpet of rubbish. There was broken glass, bits of cardboard, food waste, paper, dropped gloves, shards and strips of plastic, and clods of dust the size of tumbleweeds. In some places it was only a layer of filth, and in others it had gathered into hills like snowdrifts. 

I could see how it'd happened. Easy maintenance to this area had been blocked off, but there had still been waste. People had spent at least the last five years pitching anything broken or inconvenient off of the production line and down here, and without a convenient way to get rid of it, it'd become a landfill. After all, no one used the ground floor anymore. Who cared if it was disgusting?

The maintenance hatch had been sealed off by an aluminum plate screwed into the wall. It was exactly where the blueprints had said it would be - and had the floor been clean, it might still have been in one piece.

Rats can chew through just about anything.

Someone had stuck a crowbar or a rod through one of the bigger gaps, pried the plate free, and then replaced it from the other side.

I waited.

"Edie!"

Corrine slipped through the gap at the bottom.

"I can smell you," he chastised, "anyway, there's no point in being invisible now. We're in."

The plate slid sideways, noiseless on the litter-strewn floor. 

"Eugh," said Sheena, "it smells."

"If you think this is bad, you'd better brace yourself," I said. "So, what's the plan?"

"I'd like to get to a console," Raine said, "I think I know what we have to do."

We took a circuitous route, doubling back and making detours in order to avoid security. I took them to the console room near 'primary processing', rather than the guard station, which couldn't be reached without passing at least one camera. 

"What's 'primary processing'? What do they make here?" wondered Lloyd, as Raine booted up the console.

"It's really advanced," Colette said.

One wall of the console room was made of plexiglass, so that you could see into the adjoining area. The facility was well lit, even in the off-hours, so we had a very good view. It was much smaller than the packaging area, made of plastic and stainless steel and silicone. Metal rollers zig-zagged back and forth from one end of the room to the other, each stretch of work area equipped with waste hoppers and bins and retractable spray heads. A rail ran above each station.

It reeked of blood. I could smell it through the wall.

"Exspheres, I presume," said Kratos, dully. "You saw the packaging area, didn't you?"

"They're making Exspheres?" Genis repeated, standing on tiptoe for a better look. "Huh. Maybe they polish them in here?" Colette, beside him, frowned.

I leaned against the far wall and slid down onto my heels. Corrine, tails twitching, came over to me.

"Aren't you gonna tell them?" he said in a whisper. It might have been quick, but Corrine was smart and we'd both looked at those reports. "They should know!"

"They'll find out soon enough," I said, massaging the back of my neck and trying not to think too hard about what would happen when they did. 

"All right," said Raine, interrupting the brief reprieve. "I know what we have to do. See this area over here? That's the ranch command station. I'll have to reach it in order to lock down the facility. However, the station can only be reached with a security authorization from this module." She indicated two sections of map at opposite extremes of the ranch. "The lockdown will isolate the command station from the rest of the ranch," she continued, frowning, "so whoever proceeds to the command station won't be able to assist in the evacuation."

Lloyd caught on. "Oh. We're gonna split up again?"

Raine nodded. "Yes. Either Kratos or I will need to go to the command station, that much is certain, and we should expect heavy resistance on both ends. We'll need to separate into infiltration and extraction teams."

"Genis and I were talking," I said, reluctant, "and I was able to see the holding areas. Raine, we might need you on extraction. I'm not certain how many of those people will be able to walk unaided."

Raine frowned. "Kratos, do you feel confident you'd be able to handle the lockdown?"

Kratos nodded. "Yes. But I should point out the infiltration team may encounter heavier combat. The Grand Cardinal in charge of this ranch is notoriously brutal."

"Kvar," I said, "he was in the files. He only took over this place about two decades ago but he seems pretty nasty. His specialty is lightning magic, if that helps anyone."

"I think..." Lloyd began, "I think me, Kratos and Edie should do the extraction. Genis said there are a few thousand people here, and they're going to need help. Colette and the Professor are both good at calming people down, and they'll recognize Sheena."

"What about me?" asked Genis, looking a little put out. "I want to help fight, too."

Lloyd shook his head. "You're the only one who can do big elemental magic. If something goes wrong, you'll be able to collapse the areas behind you. That's what you did at the Palmacosta ranch, right?"

"We only talked about it," Genis protested, "but yeah. Okay."

I'd been expecting to be put on extraction. "Are you sure we'll be okay with just the three of us?" I wondered, "My magic's not that good yet. I'm not going to be able to counter whatever Kvar's doing."

"You and Lloyd can take a lot of punishment," pointed out Raine. 

"And it's hard to counter lightning, anyway," agreed Genis. "I hate to say it, but you're probably better off just fighting like Lloyd."

"Hey," Lloyd protested.

"Oh!" I clapped my hands. "Sheena, what's that big bird thing you can summon?"

"The guardians?" Sheena frowned. "They're not really mine. They're guardian spirits my grandfather made. I've got two left. But..." she bit her lip, thoughtful. "I can use them to transport a bunch of people at once. Not thousands," she cautioned, "maybe a few dozen. You won't be able to use it, though. They only understand Mizuhoan."

"No, no, I just feel better knowing you guys have a backup plan."

"I can go with them," Corrine volunteered, "that way you'll know if anything happens!"

Sheena blinked down at him. "Okay. If you insist."

Having Corrine along was an excellent safety measure, but he could only carry a message once, and only in one direction. It'd taken hours to deal with the Palmacosta ranch, and that had only been a matter of moving a few hundred people. The idea of separating for so long made me nervous, but there really wasn't another option.

"If we're decided, then we should get going," said Raine, shutting down the console.

We split up. Lloyd, Kratos, Corrine and I took the northernmost exit - the others would go east. 

"I don't get it," said Lloyd, "why do they need humans? Everything here looks like it's done by machines."

I glanced at Kratos, in the hopes that he might volunteer to explain. 

"There will always be jobs that can't be automated," he said, after a moment, not looking at either of us. 

Corrine, who had taken to riding on my shoulder, sniffed in disapproval.

"Later," I muttered. 

If I was the one who had to tell them, then I'd tell them. But not right now, and not Lloyd. He needed his head on straight if we were going to make it out of here.

The facility was quiet. We were far from the holding cells and well away of any egress points - the few guards on duty were dozing off, distracted or simply neglectful. I was always surprised how quietly Lloyd and Kratos could move - perhaps because their outfits were so visually loud - and impressed at the ease with which they dodged patrols and avoided surveillance. Kratos, in particular, had an uncanny knack for when someone was about to come around a distant corner.

"If things go on like this, we shouldn't have much trouble," I murmured.

Overhead, a klaxon wailed, and the lights flashed red.

_Oh, come on._

"That's not for us," Lloyd frowned, "I hope the others are okay."

"Want me to go check on them?" asked Corrine.

I glanced sideways at him. "...Yeah. Go."

"Okay!"

And then he was gone.

"With any luck they'll have reached the security station," Kratos said, "the warp to the command area isn't far. Stay on your guard."

Doors were opening even as he said it. We must have been near the barracks, because guards in various states of dress were appearing out of doorways and jogging out still doing up their jackets. 

I wondered if Kvar had known the Chosen's party was in the area. They could track her mana signature or something, right? He _must_ have expected us to interfere. We'd killed Magnius and blown up the Palmacosta ranch - so why did the facility seem so underprepared? If I were Kvar, I'd have had the ranch at full alert until Colette had left the area. He had hundreds of men, advanced weaponry, surveillance technology, and a wing full of hostages. He should have had the upper hand.

But then I remembered the aluminum plate in the packaging warehouse. 

Kvar had shut down areas of the ranch, striving for efficiency, but he'd never replaced the infrastructure. Garbage had built up in that room because there wasn't any place for it to go, not anymore, and Kvar hadn't bothered figuring out a solution. What did it matter? The waste wasn't in the way, and it wasn't going to impact the facility.

Kvar hadn't worried about rats.

"Will we still be able to get through while there's this red alert on?" I asked, punting a raybit away as I spoke. I hated those little bastards. 

"We'll have to see," Kratos said.

"Through here, right?" Lloyd waved us over even as Kratos cut down the last of our attackers.

We came through the door into a short corridor ending in a warp pad. Windows on either side looked out into another part of the facility - and I realized, after a moment, that we were on a kind of skyway above main processing. The windows were canted inwards at the bottom, so that an observer could have a good look at what was going on down below. I imagined Kvar, standing here, watching them take apart bodies.

"It's on," Lloyd called, after a moment. "It just went blue. We should go before someone deactivates it."

"Be ready," warned Kratos.

I hopped onto the warp pad beside Lloyd.

And then we were in another room. This one was large, circular, and paneled with consoles, screens and readouts. The floor was occupied by a singular, enormous console, ringed with blue light and not currently in use. Kvar stood at a terminal to the far left, fingers flying over the interface. He looked up when we entered.

He was very tall, with a narrow, cruel face. He was older than I'd expected - had he been human, I'd have guessed late forties to early fifties. He was well-muscled and fit, but had a gaunt, sharp quality that made him look brittle and sickly. The look he gave us was heavy-lidded and amused - almost bored. We'd made it all the way here and that still hadn't shaken him.

"Well, this is a surprise," he said, voice an oilslick. "When I heard we had rats, I assumed it was those pesky Renegades. But here you are. You must be Lloyd," he smiled, an awful squirm of the lips that never reached his eyes. "It's good that you've come."

"Who are you?" asked Lloyd, taken aback by the faux-friendliness.

"You barge into my ranch and demand my name?" Kvar sneered. "How impudent."

"He's Kvar," Kratos reminded Lloyd, "one of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals."

Kvar looked delighted. "Ah, so I see you _do_ know me. Well. It's just as Forcystus said," he took a step forward. Lloyd held his ground, ready for an attack. "That Exsphere is without a doubt the product of my Angelus Project. It was to be an offering to Lord Ygdrasill," he continued, "and it's time you gave it back."

"Angelus Project? This is my mom's keepsake," Lloyd grimaced, drawing his hand back. We were still a good fifteen feet away from Kvar - Kratos was rounding the main console, however slowly. 

Kvar laughed, awful and humorless. "Keepsake? Your mother was _vermin_ \- nothing more than a host body for the Exsphere. She - and by extension, you - have stolen the result of years of time-consuming research."

"Host body?" echoed Lloyd. "What do you mean, _host body?"_

"You mean you don't know?" Kvar beamed, "Exspheres are dormant at first. They _extract_ nourishment from humans to grow and awaken. Human ranches are Exsphere manufacturing plants," he waved a hand, "why else would we spend our time raising and taking _care_ of these inferior beings?"

"What?"

"Yes," Kvar said, almost wistfully. " _Your_ Exsphere was cultured on subject A012. Anna, she called herself. A pity she escaped - but she paid for her crime with her life. And today, those wrongs remaining will be rectified."

"You-" this was slightly too much for Lloyd to process. I wanted Kvar to talk - Lloyd deserved to _know_ \- but now I was afraid. What if this was too much too fast? "You killed my-"

" _I_ didn't kill your mother," Kvar said, virtuously, "when her Key Crest-less Exsphere was removed, A012 turned into a monster. Your father killed her. Pathetic, don't you think?"

"Don't ever talk about my parents like that," Lloyd snapped.

"They were only a couple of filthy humans... worthless _rats_ ," Kvar said.

Kvar knew who Kratos was, and he was doing this anyway.

That's hubris for you.

"I've heard enough," said Kratos, launching himself at Kvar from the other direction.

Kvar leapt aside. The air shimmered and sparked purple - and three hovering stone glyphs twisted into being. Each was as tall as Kratos and thrumming with electricity. Kratos' sword made contact with one just as it exploded sideways, a miniature lightning strike lancing from sword to ceiling. Lloyd or I would have been forced to drop our weapons, but Kratos held on, forearm twitching with the effort.

Okay. So. That was troubling.

Lloyd gave a wordless cry of fury and hurt and charged.

One of the stone sprites began to spin and bob, a magic circle glowing at its base. 

Water magic could be used to counter lightning. It was the 'stable' element of the complementary pair. Pure water was a natural insulator, and when used effectively, could dampen and negate the effects of lightning magic. This all would have been very helpful if I'd been even sort of good at water magic. But I wasn't, and here we were.

I threw myself out of the way of an eruption of ball lightning - out, and then back in again, to score a strike against the amethyst nucleus of the sprite. My dagger glanced off, a deeply unsatisfying _p-ting!_ noise.

Only a few feet away, Lloyd and Kvar traded blows. Lloyd was brutal and fast - but messy. Kvar parried more often than he was hit, but at least the constant assault kept him from focusing on his magic.

The trouble was in the sprites. Their spells were less powerful, but the cast time was shorter. One was focused on each of us, but they didn't seem intelligent - they'd gone for the first thing to make contact. As long as they were pestering Kratos - our only healer - and Lloyd - who was already teetering on the edge - we'd be in trouble. 

Well, what was I good for, if not picking up trash?

I waited, my attention diffuse and prickly - I couldn't afford to miss anything - and hopped over to Lloyd's sprite just as it discharged a ball of lightning. 

I grabbed the top in both hands, and wrenched it backward through space - only to find that half of it had been left behind. The stone sprite was made of six independent moving parts, tethered by magic, and I'd gotten three of them - the cap, the amethyst gem, and one 'leg'. The sudden, forced separation disrupted the spell that made them animate - and the stone pieces clattered to the ground, inert.

I made a mental note - when teleporting friends, make sure to grab a bit of them not easily separated from the rest.

"Lloyd!"

While I was enjoying my little victory, Kvar had managed to get a cast off on Lloyd. 

Electrical burns spiderwebbed up Lloyd's arm, neck, and face, audibly hissing with the sudden transformation of skin. 

"A _aagh!_ "

I moved, seizing the sprite near Kratos and pulling, hard, until I shot out into space again, holding two parts of the construct. The rest of it collapsed. Only mine, bobbling confusedly nearer the other side of the room, was still intact.

" _Heal!_ "

I didn't turn to look - but that was an upper-level spell, wasn't it? I recalled Raine having it mid-game - but it had been so long that I couldn't be sure. I could _feel_ the discharge of magical energy, though, like a bright white heat spreading across my neck and back.

The last sprite wobbled towards me, extremities spinning in preparation for a spell - but I'd cheesed two of them, and I wasn't about to fight fair just because it was all alone.

I split the third nearly in two, gem and stone clanging on the metal tile.

"Hey!" I dropped down beside Lloyd just in time to pull him backwards out of an enormous sphere of lightning. "You're okay! You got this!"

"Yeah," he managed, and up close I could see that his face was a horrible pale rictus - he was still in shock. This was all happening too fast. But he needed to calm down. 

Feet away, Kvar was struggling.

Kratos had been angry, yes, but now he was alight with cold fury, eyes hard and face pulled into a grimace as he laid into Kvar, blow after vicious blow. Kvar was scrambling to pull shields into the air, green light glancing against steel. His expression was one of muted terror - reality had finally sunk in. The cast for his shield was nearly instantaneous, but even he couldn't keep up with Kratos' brutal pace. 

Killing monsters was hard.

Killing people - not so much.

It only took a moment of distraction - Kvar, suddenly surrounded, having to contend with attacks from all sides - and then Kratos had skewered him through the heart, blade erupting in a thunderous shockwave that ruptured Kvar down the middle. 

" _Feel the pain,_ " Kratos yanked his sword, wet with blood, from Kvar's chest, and struck him again in a swiping blow that opened a gaping valley in Kvar's shoulder - " _of those inferior beings_ -" he brought it back in the other direction, Kvar throwing up one last feeble shield that shattered under the force - " _as you burn in hell._ " Kratos' sword arced through the air, a final swing, and cleaved Kvar's head from his body.

It hit the floor with a wet thump and rolled. The body followed soon after.

Kratos panted in the sudden silence.

Lloyd stood limply, swords held at his side.

The moment stretched on.

"The console," I blurted, too loud.

"Yes," Kratos said, shaking himself out of the reverie and beelining for Kvar's abandoned station.

"He..." Lloyd stared down at Kvar's headless body. "My mom, he..."

"Come here," I said, reaching up to pull him into a hug. He didn't resist, couldn't bring himself to, and collapsed into it, face dropping into my shoulder and hands clenched in the material of my coat. His shoulders shook, and all of a sudden he began to sob. Heaving, desperate sobs, body overwhelmed by the surge of adrenaline and force of his grief. It had all happened so _fast_. I stroked the back of his head, clutching him nearly as hard as he was clutching me. "It's okay. It's going to be okay."

His fingers twisted in dense wool. "He said... my dad..." His voice was muffled in my shoulder. He was taller than me, so that he had to bend into the hug.

"He lied," I said, fervent, "he lied. Your father must have been so scared and angry, and Kvar - Kvar killed her. And now he's dead. He can't hurt you."

" _Why?_ Why would someone... why would he..."

"Kvar?" Lloyd nodded mutely. "People like Kvar... they don't see other people as people. They - they see them as things. It's a sickness in the head."

"My mom..."

"Your mom must have loved you so, so much."

We stood there, console beeping distantly.

Lloyd's sobs began to quiet. His breath began to even. I didn't let go, and neither did he.

"This... thing," he said. "The Exsphere... I..."

"She's still watching over you," I said, combing fingers through his hair. "She's with you."

"It's... evil," he choked. "I don't..."

"It's a thing," I breathed, "Kvar was evil. Desians are evil. Evil made it, but you're using it for good."

"But... these _things_ are made at the cost of human lives," Lloyd finally lifted his head, face a blotchy mess. "What am I supposed to..."

"What do you _want_ to do?" I asked him, placing a hand on each shoulder. 

"...This place... all the ranches... they have to stop," he said, "I want..." He looked miserably down at the back of his hand. "I..."

"It's a lot to take in," I said, "breathe. You don't have to make the choice on your own. You're not _on_ your own. Okay?"

"Y-yeah, okay."

"Breathe. There'll be time to deal with this later."

"Yeah."

"Come on." I lead him by the arm to Kratos. He followed, still dazed. "How's it going?"

"The lockdown is complete," Kratos said. His voice was distinctly hollow. "We can see the progress of the evacuation." He pulled up a set of monitors - the same cameras that Corrine and I had seen in the security kiosk. "It may take some time."

"They all look okay," I said, squinting at the images. It was hard to tell, but I could make out Raine, Genis, Sheena and Colette - they were the only people not dressed in brown - and they all were, at least, standing upright. The captives were sluggish and erratic - many probably injured or in shock themselves - but they were at least moving.

"What about the other Desians?" Lloyd asked, after a long pause.

"Locked down. The command can't be overwritten from anywhere but here," Kratos said, with some amount of satisfaction.

"So we're safe, then," I prompted. 

"...For a given value of safe, yes."

"Then let's eat something."

"What?" Lloyd blinked down at me. "Right now?"

"Yes. Your body is dealing with a lot right now. You too," I said, to Kratos. "I have nuts, dried apples, cheese and hard crackers," I continued, swinging my knapsack around to my front and rooting around inside. I kept most of my food in an largish waxed-canvas pouch, which looked as if it had originally been made to store matches or paper, but made an excellent doggie bag. I pressed a handful of walnuts into Lloyd's hand, and passed Kratos the little paper bag of dried apples. "Eat."

"...Thank you," said Kratos, glancing down at it.

I paused. It was probably hard to focus on recovery with Kvar smeared all over the floor.

"You guys hang out here, okay? I'm just gonna..."

I picked up one of the discarded sprite 'legs', and started to use it as you might use a broom handle to nudge the remains out of sight. It would have been funny, if not for literally every other aspect of the situation.

When I glanced up, Lloyd and Kratos were talking very quietly, so I busied myself sorting through the detritus of battle for anything useful.

I had no idea if the purple gems were really amethyst, but I pocketed them all the same. The stone sprites themselves were too large to bring with me, even though I suspected Raine would have liked a look at the runework, so I ripped a few pages out of my journal to make clumsy pencil rubbings. Then I peered around at those consoles not actively in use, and wondered - do Exspheres burn?

The force of an explosion would probably break them, but I wasn't a munitions expert.

I crouched down by Kvar's body, working the glove off his right hand, and then his left, where I found his Exsphere. It was purple-blue, like an iris, set in a very ornate key crest. I considered it for a minute before using the tip of a dagger to pry the crest from the skin - a surprisingly bloodless process - before popping the Exsphere out, like a lens from a pair of spectacles.

I pocketed the key crest and held the Exsphere up to the light.

 _Who were you?_ I thought, turning it over and over in my fingers. Who _had_ it been? 

Was someone still conscious in there? I couldn't imagine a greater hell than that - trapped, alone, nothing but a mind without a body. Did they see the world outside?

I couldn't decide if that would be better or worse. 

I carefully placed the Exsphere on an intersection of tile, and crushed it with the heel of my boot.

There was a glimmer of light, and the prickle of mana - and when I lifted my foot away, all that remained was a shattered marble. No light, no energy - barely more than colored glass. 

* * *

Dawn had come and passed. It was early afternoon when Kratos confirmed the ranch had been evacuated. 

"Let's give it the old Sage special, then," I yawned, standing on creaking knees.

"We're blowing it up, right?" Lloyd clarified.

"Yes," Kratos agreed. "There. We'll have to move quickly."

"Yessir!"

Any Desians left roaming the halls had long fled or been taken out by the evacuation team. Traveling was much faster when you didn't have to be quiet or check around corners, and soon we were at the main doors, open to the winter sky. The gust of fresh, freezing air hit me like a wave, and I stepped out into the yard, blinking in the sun. I squinted out over the treetops, trying to remember if we'd agreed on a meet-up point.

"This way," directed Kratos.

The ranch detonated only a few minutes after we'd passed the gates. It was much, much closer than I'd been to the Palmacosta explosion. My ears popped and began to ring, tinny and distorted, and for a moment I almost lost my balance. A wall of heat and force shook the trees and scattered snowdrifts. Behind us, great billowing gouts of flame and black smoke soared into the sky.

"Why," I wondered, when I could hear myself speak, "would you build a base of operations with a self-destruct button? Who benefits from that?"

Lloyd shrugged. Kratos ignored me.

 _Cruxis,_ I guessed. _Easy cleanup after the Regeneration._

It astounded me how readily Cruxis hemorrhaged its own agents - and how completely blind the Desians were to that indifference. Yggdrasill didn't care about Desians any more than he cared about humans. 

Kvar had been cruel and clever and he had still been a stooge. So vacant in empathy, so delighted in the pain of others - and still he'd craved the impossible approval of his superior. Maybe that's why Yggdrasill had picked him as Pronyma's successor - that stupid, single-minded belief that _he_ was different, that _he_ was worthy - that Yggdrasill's contempt was for other people. People like Kvar - the desperate, vicious middle managers of the world - they repulsed me.

And yet...

I glanced over at Kratos.

Kratos had let all of this go on for four _thousand_ years.

It had taken him a wife and child to turn on Yggdrasill.

Had he been deluded, too? Or just cruel? I struggled with that, because Kratos may have been dismissive and blunt - and often cold - but he wasn't _cruel_. I had a hard time imagining him sitting idly by while Mithos turned the world into the pantomime that it was today. But he'd done it, and I didn't know how to deal with that.

We walked. Afternoon turned into dusky twilight.

"I can see them," Lloyd said, bouncing on his feet. "Hey!"

Much of the land surrounding the ranch was mountainous or hilly, but Raine and the others had found a stretch of desolate field in which to camp. _Thousands_. There were thousands of people, clad in nothing but rags and wooden shoes, gathered around a thousand flickering campfires. Many people were too weak to stand, but some of them roamed carrying small bundles of twigs or buckets of river-water. No, not buckets - upturned Desian helmets, the faceplate serving as a handle.

We had restocked supplies when Luin was last intact - there was no world in which that would be enough to feed three thousand people. But someone had busted in a sheet of ice on the nearby river, and other people with borrowed knives were scraping bark or cutting small branches for wood. Children cried and childless parents soothed them. Someone - Genis, perhaps - had made an enormous bonfire, and posted up a few of our blankets as rudimentary tents.

"Lloyd!" Colette, shimmering in the air, fluttered down to us and threw her arms around Lloyd. "You're okay! Edie!" She grabbed me, too. "I'm so glad you're all okay! Mr. Kratos, if you have any mana to spare, the Professor is healing people at that tent by the bonfire!"

Kratos nodded, and disappeared into the throng.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked, giving Colette a quick squeeze and craning my head to see over the massive crowd.

"All of us, yes," Colette said, frowning. "Not everyone made it out," she continued, quietly. "We weren't able to take the bodies with us."

"Oh, Colette. I'm sorry."

Colette shook her head. "It's okay. We did our best. And we don't have a head count yet, but it's about two thousand and seven-hundred people. Um, a few people in better shape kept going towards Luin, but we think some of us should go to Asgard, too." She seized my hand. "I know Kratos will say it's more important to finish the Regeneration quickly," she said, "but these people aren't going to survive out here on their own. We have to get them help."

I nodded. "You're right. Hopefully if we can get people to Luin we can get some shelter going and have some people go to -" I paused, trying to remember the name, "Hima, too. Is there any way to get word to Palmacosta?"

"They have couriers, right?" Lloyd frowned. "My dad gets all his business through the, um... House of Salvation network thing."

Colette brightened. "The Prayer Ponies! Or the Pony Post," she giggled. 

"It goes between the Houses of Salvation?" I asked.

"Yes... it's how the temples carry news."

A month, maybe two. That was the timeline to get to Palmacosta, even on horseback.

I guess it was too much to hope for messenger pigeons. 

It wasn't that Luin and Asgard were the only villages on the continent - Sylvarant was full of farmsteads and hamlets and even towns, with schoolhouses and general stores and chapels, but they weren't equipped to send large-scale aid. Only the Church had the resources to do that. I had no idea what the next few months would look like for these people - it was barely February and it would be a hard winter no matter where you lived.

"Is there anything we can do?" Lloyd asked.

"Ummm, I'm not sure," Colette said, "um, Genis made a really really big pot of soup!"

"...What'd he use as the pot?" I wondered. 

Colette brightened. "It's amazing! He made it out of stone!"

"Well, I gotta see this."

Genis had, in fact, caused a bizarre, angular stone cauldron to sprout from the frozen earth. A fire burned underneath, and whatever was _in_ the pot was bubbling. He hopped up when he saw us. "Lloyd! Edie! You're okay!"

"Heyyy!" I swept him up into a hug. "I'm so glad you guys made it out. What's this?"

Genis flushed. "It's mostly water," he mumbled, "but I put all the salt pork in, and bullion, and all the barley. People can go longer without food than they can without water, but I figure they probably need it more than us. Some of the others broke into a store-room that didn't have any Desians in it, so we have some cups, but not enough. We don't have enough of anything."

"You've done so much already," I said, mussing his hair. He swatted halfheartedly at my hand. "Wait, so did you carve this?"

"What? No, I did it with magic," Genis frowned. "The rock was all already in the ground. It wasn't even that hard."

"All right, no need to brag," I grinned.

"Where's Sheena?" asked Lloyd, standing on his tip-toes for a better look.

"She's helping the Professor," said Colette, "she's really good with medicines and stuff!"

Genis yawned, and then tried to cover it with a sneeze.

"Heyyy," I said, "you've been up for more than a day. You should get some rest."

Genis shook his head. "I'm fine."

"...Fine, but if you pass out I'm not carrying you."

"I never asked you to!"

"I should do another circle," Colette said, frowning, "I'm kind of making sure everyone's being looked after. Um, well, as much as we can."

I combed a hand through my hair, realizing after a moment that someone else's blood had gone gummy in the braid. I was exhausted, now that the adrenaline had worn off, but I didn't want to be seen slacking.

"Why don't you keep each other company?" I suggested, lightly elbowing Lloyd, "I'm gonna go see if I can run some errands."

The 'medical tents' were around the other side of the bonfire, so as to keep the filth a decent distance from the food. Kratos, Raine, Sheena - and two women I didn't know - were at work with a seemingly endless queue of people. Corrine was perched on one of the branches acting as a tentpole, and hopped down when he saw me.

"Hey! You guys made it!"

"Yeah," I grinned. "Thank you for everything today. I owe you big time."

"Yeah, you do," he sniffed. "We've been working really hard here!"

"Oh, yeah? And what work are you doing?" I asked.

Corrine stuck up his chin. "I'm a calming presence!"

I wasn't sure if he was joking - but now I looked harder, I could see Noishe around the other side of the tents, valiantly allowing himself to be used as a pillow, cushion and playground for a half-dozen small children. _Very_ small, I noted - one of them looked to be a toddler, attended to by a nine or ten year old girl with the same hair color. "Thank you," I said again, "that's important."

"Edie."

I startled. Kratos waved me over.

"Yes?"

"Now is as good a time as ever. You've studied First Aid?"

"Yes, but..." I peered down at the bloody scrape - and at the patient, a young man with a long nose and small mouth with eyes like runny eggs. "Right. Okay." There was no use in arguing with Kratos when he was in this kind of mood. 

I took the boy's arm in one hand, and held the other flat above it. I closed my eyes, and tried to picture the shape of the spell - mana, circulating outwards, a puddle of warm light in a sea of darkness. Naploosa's diagram described the passage of mana through a matrix, a circuit hanging in the air, so that when one end met the other there was a discharge of amplified magical energy.

"First Aid."

The disc of green-blue light flashed under my palm, and the scrape receded to a faint redness.

Raine had once closed up a terrifying gash in Lloyd's side with First Aid. Mine wasn't there yet, but something was better than nothing. "You stand here and take those with the most minor injuries. Sheena will deal with bruises or possible infections. Anything more serious than that, direct to myself or Professor Sage."

I nodded, shrugging out of my jacket. It was hot, this close to the bonfire, and it felt right to roll up my sleeves.

To my immense relief, I was not solely in charge of the triage, or maintaining the line. The two women - who I much later learned were named Aria and Fanny - knew many of the patients and took care of most of the sorting and queueing. People were on their best behavior, likely because they were too tired and sick to be anything else. I was not particularly fast - and a few times had to take a second go at the spell - but at least I was helping.

The line may have gone on forever.

There was no break, no rest. And there was no protesting, either, not when I was faced with sunken cheeks and dull eyes, scrapes and bruises and blisters. I could lean on coffee and orange gels and my health, but these people were already weak, already dying. 

It was only when night began to fade into dawn that we stopped - and then only because it was time to travel again.

A crowd so large begins to self-regulate, and so there emerged alliances of helpers and leaders and runners - the few strong banding together to support the many weak. Colette flew overhead, relaying messages from one end of the procession to another, carrying food or medicine or people, if she had to. I served in a more limited capacity, because I'd completely lost the ability to teleport.

The refugees had left the ranch in the wee hours of the last day, and so it was nearing dark as we approached what was left of Luin. We found it alight with torches and fires, and slowly, news spread - some of the Blueback mercenaries had come on horseback from Hima, some from Asgard, and there had also been a delegation sent from the Asgard House of Salvation, so that there was already a camp waiting for us when we arrived.

It wasn't just that - nearby settlements, even in the dead of winter, had sent people with goats and cows for milk and meat, and small merchants had trucked up grain and flour. 

Bodies had been recovered and buried, and rough logs laid over where bridges had broken. 

The root of it was Sheena.

She'd saved a village priest. He was not _from_ Luin - merely there by unfortunate coincidence. He had survived the raid by hiding beneath a broken beam of the chapel. When he'd emerged, thinking the fight was over, Clara had appeared. She'd nearly killed him. But Sheena got in the way, and the man had escaped. He'd sent word to every homesteader in a hundred miles, and to the houses of Salvation.

"But how'd they know we'd be back?" I wondered.

Sheena grinned.

"I sent one of my guardians with a message yesterday," she said, "I wasn't sure if anyone would see it," she admitted, embarrassed, "maybe scare off some looters, at the most. But... people were already here. Trying to see what they could do, and looking for survivors."

"Sheena. You're amazing."

"...I am, aren't I?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Genis falls asleep on Lloyd.  
> Edit - I'm also uploading this to ffnet under the handle 'ritscracker' (the zee was taken).


	10. Tower of Mana, again

"Yes, Pietro, but I haven't-"

I froze where I was, half-stooped to grab a pile of ruined, soggy planks from the pile where they lay. I felt cold in a way that had nothing to do with the foul weather or the proximity to the water, and the feeling only intensified, traveling from my gut and up my arms and down my legs and finally pinging into place between my ears, an icy pinball striking all the buzzers at once. _Bzzt,_ they said, _bzzt, you idiot, remember!_

Pietro.

I stood, mouth very dry. Pietro. I knew I'd forgotten _something_. He'd been the original escapee and the one to helm the reconstruction. But he wasn't here, because he was dying in Hima, waiting on a cure that would never come.

The heroes weren't supposed to take down Asgard on the first try. They were supposed to muck it up and go west to find Pietro. Pietro's illness - and Raine's promise to cure it - would lead to the Resurrection arte, which required a unicorn horn, which required a _unicorn_ \- which required Undine. Without Pietro, there was no reason to travel all that distance south to have Sheena form a pact with Undine. 

I gnawed on my lower lip, mind racing.

It'd be okay, right? We'd manage without her until she had to make another pact. Volt was the next one. _And_ that would put off the discovery about the mana links - that pactmaking with both sides of the chain made it break - which bought me time to deal with Palmacosta. 

_Damn it_ , I thought, chapped lip splitting under my incisor, _I've fucked it up. I've fucked it up by actually helping._

Raine needed that book, too. We depended on her. We _would_ depend on her.

I wiped at my mouth. The cut stung - I pressed down, and tried to call back that healing energy. "First Aid."

* * *

"What happened to your face?"

Raine was studying maps again. We'd have to get out of here eventually, but every day brought more problems. People needed to be rehomed, children needed guardians, shipments needed paying for - we couldn't do all of it, and we couldn't be here forever. But this wasn't like Palmacosta, where there was a whole city infrastructure still in place, where people had homes to go back to. This was still a refugee camp.

"Nothing," I said, wincing as I spoke. "Anyway. Raine. A lot of these people... Even with the care we've given them, they still seem pretty sick."

Raine frowned. "It'll be a long time before they're recovered. I can't imagine Inhibitor Ore is in great supply, and as long as they go without key crests..." She shook her head. "It's a long road."

"It's not just malnourishment, though," I said, dropping down onto the gravel beside her stool. "There's something else wrong with them." I had no idea if this was true, but Pietro had been sick in a way that Raine couldn't heal. Maybe that was just the late-stage effect of the Exsphere, maybe not - but I was fishing, and maybe, if I was lucky, I could reel in a catch. "Something weird."

"...Yes," Raine said, after a moment. "It's... Are you familiar with the term 'homeostasis'?"

"Yeah, I took bi-" I cut myself off, nodding.

"The Exspheres seem to 'mature' by drawing out mana from the body," she explained. I blinked - when had she found that out? "Humans don't have the natural reserves of Elves or even Half-elves, but their body produces it at a steady rate. A healthy body doesn't produce more or less than is needed. But the Exsphere..." She pursed her lips for a moment. "By consuming all the available mana, the Exsphere causes an overcorrection, and the body produces excess mana in an attempt to compensate. The effect only increases the longer the Exsphere is worn."

I frowned. "But... wouldn't more mana be good?"

"In some circumstances, I suppose," Raine allowed, "but the Exsphere consumes the excess mana, too. You've read Naploosa's Treatise?"

"Yeaah."

"Then you would understand that matter, energy and mana are intrinsically linked. Mana production can increase and decrease with age, as the body's mass and processes change, but all people have a natural limit. In trying to compensate with the Exsphere, the body far exceeds that limit, yes? What do you think happens then?"

I considered this. "Uhh... Something bad?"

Raine sniffed. "The body begins to cannibalize itself. It's much like starvation, in that way. The sensory faculties suffer first, then cognition, and then the vital organs begin to fail. It really is ghastly."

"How... do you know all this?"

Raine gave me a sidelong look. "Corrine relayed some of what he learned," she said, in a meaningful kind of way. "I also had some time to read before the evacuation."

"Sorry. I just... didn't want to talk about it yet."

"I understand," she nodded, "it's gruesome."

"So... can you heal it? The... mana starvation?" I suggested.

Raine's face, already solemn, became a mask of regret. "...No. I'm afraid I can't."

"...But you're the best healer in Sylvarant," I said, trying not to plead.

"...Perhaps. And still not good enough to cure it," she said bitterly. "In a past age, when magic was wider studied, maybe... The Healer Boltzmann was supposed to have been able to cure any disease. He was supposed to have cured _death_." I looked curiously up at her. "He was in the Chosen mana line, and devoted the whole of his life to scholarship and good works."

"Cured _death?_ " I repeated.

Raine flushed. "It's not so impossible as it sounds. Life and death are not the extremes we imagine them to be. People have long sought to close the divide, as it were. If you believe folklore, some have succeeded."

I wracked my brain for a moment. "The elves?" 

Genis had told me some time ago about the supposed mythic origins of the Elves. He'd told me others, too - that Elves had been born from the seeds of the fruit of the world tree, that they'd been the grandchildren of the frost giant - but that had been the first.

"Yes," Raine agreed, "although that line of thinking might be considered... sacrilegious."

"...Boltzmann," I said, staring down at the gravel. It was such a _harmless_ lie - why was I hesitating? "I think I remember seeing that name somewhere. In a book."

"Yes, he's heavily referenced," Raine sighed. "Records indicate that he wrote an extensive work on healing, but it's been lost to time."

"In the Tower of Mana, I mean," I said, flicking a tiny stone away from my feet. "When I was looking around inside. _Urk!_ "

Raine gripped me by the lapels, lifting my face to hers, so that I was half-kneeling before her stool. 

" _In the Tower of Mana?_ " Raine demanded, eyes sparkling with that familiar, terrifying enthusiasm. "You're certain?"

"F-fairly certain, yeah," I said. The proximity was making me blush.

"If that's true, then it may be..." she inhaled sharply, shaking her head and dropping me back down. "I shouldn't get my hopes up. If any books _were_ preserved... it seems unlikely that such an important volume would be left behind."

"It's like, a library," I said, massaging my throat, "didn't I mention that?"

Raine's face turned towards me, and even in the light of day had the effect of being in shadow. Her eyes glinted, chips of ice in a wall of darkness. My chest tightened with animal panic. My fingers inched towards the pouch on my belt, trembling with the effort.

"Anywayhere'sthekeydon'tkillme!" I lobbed it at her, the teeth of it gleaming silver in the sunlight, and fled at a sprint.

* * *

"Why are you all sad?" Lloyd asked. His hair was knotted near the back of his head. It'd gotten longer since I'd first met him, and was starting to droop under its own weight. If he let it grow much longer, then the resemblance would be unmistakable. He shook a jar of ruined nails at me. "Don't you have something to do?"

"Ah, Raine's just mad at me," I sighed, "I forgot to mention some things."

"...Er, how mad?" Lloyd glanced around, trying to decide if being around me was worth the risk.

"It's really nothing," I laughed, shaking my head. "I thought I'd take a break. You should, too. Someone gave Colette cookies," I said, a little more soberly, "she said you should have them." I gestured at a bit of stone still recognizable as a step. "Sit down for a bit?"

Lloyd nodded, a bit glum. "Um... how is she?"

I grimaced. "She... hurts herself on accident, a lot. I think without touch, she's losing her sense of where her hands and feet are if she's not, you know, looking at them."

Lloyd froze in the act of untying the ribboned bag. 

"You already knew?"

I winced. I'd kind of forgotten it was supposed to be a secret.

I was _bad_ at this.

"Yeah. And that she doesn't sleep. Or eat," I gestured. "It's... well, I worry about you guys."

Lloyd looked down at the little pouch. "I wish... she'd tell people. I wish she wouldn't keep it all to herself."

"She worries a lot about troubling other people," I agreed.

"I wish there were more I could do for her."

I thought about that. "You can be with her. Around her, I mean. Keep her busy. Remind her that you love her - as a _friend_ ," I rolled my eyes as Lloyd spluttered. "It's good to remind people that you love them. I used to say it to my friends every day. My parents, too. I don't regret it," I smiled. "I don't regret saying it once. People need reminding. Not everyone knows how much they matter."

"Why... doesn't she think she matters?" Lloyd asked, sounding very small.

I sighed. "Not everyone... grows up knowing they're loved. Unconditionally. It doesn't sound like much, but it's like... building a house without a foundation," I tried. "Nothing's quite as stable. You have to remind them. Build supports for them."

Lloyd sat for a moment.

"What Sheena said... it's true, isn't it? That there's another world?" I nodded. "Why would... why would the Goddess make such an unfair world? I don't get it. Why does Colette have to suffer? Why does Sylvarant have to suffer? I don't get it," he repeated.

"The world... isn't fair," I began, waving down his interjection, "hear me out. The world _isn't_ fair, but the point of societies... of cooperation," I waved at the wreckage of the city around us, the people who had come to help, the people who had been left behind, "is to _make_ things fair." Well, technically it was to keep things _orderly_ , and people fed, but Lloyd didn't need my materialist read of history. "I think that we can make things fair. That's why I want to know more about the Seals... about Cruxis."

"I just feel so... powerless," Lloyd admitted.

"Alone, you are," I agreed, "but you're not alone. You've got all of us here." I squeezed his hand. "You just need to ask for help."

Lloyd nodded, and for a while we sat in silence.

"About what Kvar said... My mom..."

"Yeah?" I prompted.

"This..." he turned his hand over, so that both of us could see the little red marble. "This is her life. I can't keep _using_ it. It's... awful. But..."

"We need them," I agreed. "We'd have lost a long time ago without them. It is awful, but it's also important."

"When all this is over," he said, "I want to stop it. Make sure this never happens to anyone ever again."

I rested a hand on his back. "We'll help you, you know that?"

He nodded.

"Do the others know yet? About the Exspheres?"

He nodded again. "I.. told Genis, Colette and Raine... and I think Corrine told Sheena."

Well, at least that meant I didn't have to give some awkward speech.

"How are _you_?" I asked.

Lloyd shrugged. "I'm okay. Kratos and I talked a bit, and... yeah."

I smiled. "I'm glad. I'm sorry it took so long for me to check in."

"...What about you? Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I am. I -" _I'm panicking about derailing the story. I'm worried about how close we are to the end._ "I'm okay." 

Lloyd grinned. "Good."

* * *

"Heyyy, kiddo."

"Don't call me that," Genis frowned. "Aren't you packed yet? Raine says we're leaving soon."

"Almost," I said, "is she still mad at me?"

Genis snorted. "Probably, but you'd have to ask her."

"How are we on food supplies?"

Genis bit his lip. "...Not _great_ , but Kratos and you guys can hunt, and Raine knows about wild plants. We'll probably be fine."

I sighed. There'd been merchants moving through the city, here and there, but the problem was in the supply, not the demand. There wasn't enough to go around, not this late in winter. "Are we planning anything special for your birthday?"

Genis flushed. "How'd you know my birthday was coming up?"

I laughed. "Colette told me all of them a while back. Yours is-" _President's day,_ "the same as someone I used to know. How old are you turning?"

Genis brightened. "Fifteen." 

" _Fifteen?_ " I looked down at him, wide-eyed. "You're practically decrepit."

"Shut up," he mumbled. "No, I think we'll be on the road. It's okay. Me and Raine don't normally do much, anyway."

I laughed. "My older sisters used to visit and we'd all play cards for hours." I grinned down at him. "When _is_ Raine's birthday, anyway?"

"March 16," Genis said, "and Lloyd is in August." He paused. "I wonder how old Sheena is. I guess I've never asked."

"She's... nineteen, isn't she?" I frowned.

"Huh. I thought she was younger," Genis said. "She doesn't really act grown up. Well... I guess she does, sometimes."

"Situational grown up-ness," I suggested.

"Like you," he snorted. I grinned.

"Like me," I agreed.

* * *

The weather was foul on our march north. The Tower of Mana was closer to Luin than the ranch, but we'd taken that trip at double time and in good weather. Freezing mist skulled over the mountaintops, and wet snow turned to sleet turned to cold rain that iced the trees and hills in a slick, transparent exoskeleton. The road was nearly unwalkable, pockmarked with miniature ponds and hardened snowdrifts, and the damp air turned our clothing stiff, cold and heavy. It was impossible to be really warm, because you could never be really _dry_.

* * *

"Hey, Colette."

"Edie! You should get some rest."

"Ahh, couldn't sleep," I said, tucking myself under the makeshift awning - a blanket stretched over tentpoles made of sticks. The sleet pattered off the wool. My own hood was damp and heavy, the brim of it stiff with ice. "Mind if I sit with you for a bit?"

"I'd like that," Colette smiled, budging up to give me more of the awning. Her gloved hands were folded in her lap, her ankles delicately crossed. Frost spiderwebbed her long eyelashes and there was a blue-grey tinge to her face, even in the firelight. "Um, are you cold? I have another blanket."

"I'm all right," I smiled. "How are you?"

"Oh, ah, I'm very good!" Colette beamed, "I'm having a lot of fun. I don't really mind the cold, so..."

"...Right," I dug around for a painless source of conversation. "You and Sheena are getting along well."

"Y-you think so?" Colette straightened, eyes gleaming. "I really like her, I'm so glad she's our friend!"

"Me too," I grinned, "I'm glad she came with us, after all."

Colette deflated a bit, looking at her knees. "Yes, me too... I wish... we could go on like this forever, but Sheena has Tethe'alla to think about, and I have Sylvarant. But," she looked up again, "that doesn't mean we can't be friends right now!"

"You're right," I agreed. "You believe her then? About Tethe'alla?"

"Sheena wouldn't lie," Colette said, solemn. "I hope... after the world is regenerated, that she can find a way to save Tethe'alla, too. If Lloyd's there... you would help her, wouldn't you?" She turned her face on me, eyes huge and pleading.

"Of course I would," I promised, "I _will_ ." I wanted to promise that _she_ would be there, too. But I didn't want to make things any harder on her, not now. "The world can change, Colette. We'll make sure it does."

She smiled. "Thank you. I... thank you. And... I'm sorry to ask so much of you."

"I forgive you," I smiled sidelong at her. "I want you to know that. You couldn't do anything I wouldn't forgive. Not ever, okay?"

"You've... always been so kind," Colette said. "I'm really happy I met you, Edie."

"You deserve kindness," I sighed. "Ahhh, I didn't mean to bring up something so heavy. ...Any chance you'd like a story?" I asked, and then snorted at myself. _You bother the girl, make her sad, and now you want her to listen to your recitation._ "If you're not sick of them already."

Colette waved her hands. "No, no, I'd love that!"

It was impossible to tell if she was being honest. I laughed and massaged the back of my neck, staring out into the dark. "Where was it we left off with Mole and the others?"

"Umm... They were about to visit Mr. Toad, because he'd bought a new carriage!" 

You had to localize, of course.

" _Oh!_ Yes. They had to rescue the poor unhappy animal! Convert him... he'll be the most converted Toad that ever was before they're done with him!"

* * *

Genis' birthday came and went in the middle of a hailstorm. We took shelter in the trees, fist-sized hailstones thumping against the canopy, smaller pearls of ice glancing off the earth like scattered rainwater. 

"It's your birthday?" asked Lloyd, bewildered. "Already?"

"Geez," Genis complained, already busy trying to dry out his boots by the fire, "even Edie remembered!"

" _Even_ me?"

"Sorry," Lloyd blushed, "I'm not great with dates."

"Um, I made you something," said Sheena, rifling in her bag to produce a dangling charm. It was made from a hundred-gald coin, the middle punched through, and fastened to a set of silver beads with a navy blue thread. A blue tassel hung from the bottom, and the gald coin gleamed in the firelight. "It's not much," she hedged, flushing as Genis turned it over in his hands, "but, uh, I thought you might like it. It's a charm for good fortune."

"Wow, Sheena," said Genis, "this is amazing! You _made_ this?"

"Wait, how did you know it was his birthday?" Lloyd pouted.

"We talked about it a few days ago," said Sheena, "it's really... not a big deal."

"You made that so quickly," I said, "Sheena, that's awesome."

"Sheena is good at so many things, I'm really envious," gushed Colette, which only made Sheena go redder. 

"Thanks, Sheena," said Genis, grinning, "this is so cool!"

"I have a gift, too!" I piped up. "Mine's a charm, as well... I can't do any handicrafts, though," I admitted, embarrassed, "so it's not gonna be as good as Sheena's... But..." I handed it over.

"...Uh, what is it?" Genis asked, turning the charm over in his hands.

"...It's a yarn star! It's good luck!" All you needed was a few twigs and some yarn. I thought I'd done pretty well, considering I hadn't made one since I was five years old. Maybe I'd been a little overambitious trying to make it three-dimensional... I hadn't quite known how to thread the yarn, so it had ended up a bit messy. But I'd done my best, and there weren't even any loose ends! 

"Oh. It's kind of..."

"Lopsided," supplied Lloyd.

"Hey, at least I remembered," I said, "I did my best, okay?"

"It's nice," said Genis, diplomatically, "thanks, Edie!"

"Um, me next, then," said Colette, withdrawing a little tulle bag from her knapsack and passing it over to Genis.

Genis drew out a loop of fine blue ribbon, a little brass acorn hanging from the end. It was exquisitely made, and burnished to a golden gleam. The ribbon knotted back on itself in a pattern of whorls and rosettes, so that the delicate silk stiffened into a sturdy cord. "It's for good health," Colette said, beaming, "and for growing up strong! I hope you like it."

"I'm really grateful," Genis said, after a moment, "but why do I feel like you're all saying I have bad luck?"

"Ah, well, a bigger gift would be inconvenient, wouldn't it?" said Sheena, "but these you can carry with you."

"I feel like Sheena and Colette's gifts are definitely going to bring you good luck," said Lloyd, brightly.

"Hey, stop picking on me just because you're absentminded!"

"I like all of them," Genis said, soothing, "thanks. I think..." He blushed. "I don't think I've ever gotten this many gifts. Thank you guys. I'm really grateful I get to be here with you."

"You've changed a lot since your last birthday," Raine mused, "I suppose you _are_ growing up." She looked wistful.

"I wonder..." Genis looked down at the handful of charms. "I hope we can be together like this for my next birthday, too." Colette's gaze dropped to her knees. Genis followed the movement, and I knew right then that he had figured it out. It was in the knowing, downcast eyes, in the hunch of his shoulders and the resignation in his voice as he sighed. "Well, I'm happy we can be together now." When he picked his chin up again he was smiling brightly.

"If it's February 22nd," I said, "then that means I've known you all for... Six months, right?"

"That's right!" Colette brightened. "I can't believe it's been that long!"

"Aren't you guys all from Iselia?" asked Sheena, bemused.

Lloyd shook his head. "We met Kratos on the day of the Oracle, and then later I met Edie when we were both captured by Desians!" He grinned. "We kicked their butts, though!"

"Huh. You and Colette look kind of alike," Sheena said, "so I thought you might be related."

Colette and I glanced at one another. 

"We do?"

"What? No way," said Genis, "they look totally different."

"...She has a point," Raine said, "they have similar face shapes and features."

"You've both got that," Sheena gestured, "same nose, and dimple. Like cousins, maybe."

"I'd like it if Edie were my cousin!" said Colette, bright as sunshine.

"'I'm just honored to be compared to Colette," I admitted, feeling particularly shady.

"And Lloyd and Kratos kind of look alike," said Sheena, encouraged by the success of the last topic. "If you just combed your hair down like this... See?"

"Whoa," said Genis, "you look way cooler!"

I _didn't_ look at Kratos. If I looked at Kratos, I'd laugh, and he'd know _I_ knew, and then he'd murder me in my sleep. 

"You do look pretty cute with your hair down," I agreed.

Lloyd blushed. His hair in its natural state gave the impression that his head was longer than it really was - but combed down, you could see the stark similarity. He was a little rounder than Kratos, his eyes a little bigger, but the resemblance was uncanny. "Y-you really think so?" 

Raine had gone quiet, hand folded over her mouth in thought.

"I wonder, if we styled Kratos' hair like Lloyd's..."

All eyes snapped to Kratos, who had sat in diligent silence - present, but not a part. His face was entirely expressionless, eyes half-lidded with the effort of complete and utter stoicism. There was a moment of collective imagination - Kratos, his hair cut short and swept up out of his face, his sleek indigo traded for bright red, his face alight with energy, his teeth bared in a smile and his eyes open and gleaming. We turned away as one, as if staring into the firelight would chase the shadows from our minds.

"Probably not," said Genis, staring down at the three good-luck charms with sudden and deep appreciation.

* * *

The sleet had turned to rain. The Tower of Mana was a dark, shining shape against the grey, stone pillars glistening dimly in the low light. The driving rain flooded the stone courtyards and sloughed down the steps in miniature waterfalls, turning snowdrifts to slush and patches of ice into migrating glaciers. One of the smaller cloud-pine trees, felled in the storm, lay propped on a bannister, fallen needles swept downstream.

"Ugh, isn't this supposed to be Luna's domain?" I asked Genis, my voice at half a shout, as we huddled beneath the little cover provided by the doorway. Raine fumbled with the lock, numb hands fighting damp metal. "Why is it so dark?"

"I don't know," Genis called back, "I thought it'd clear up!"

"There!" 

A low, mechanical _thunk_ was followed by the scrape of stone on stone. Raine pushed forward, the quiet vacuum of the Tower pulling us in like detritus out of an airlock door. 

The storm echoed in the chamber, freezing water sweeping through a hundred years of dust, and then Lloyd closed the door behind us, and the world went quiet. The rain cast moving shadows in the space before the windows, warping the scant sunlight into pools and eddies of living darkness. We stood for a moment in the thrumming blackness, listening to the drip of water onto dust, the sounds of our own breathing, and then came the subharmonic buzzing of electricity.

The lights came on.

"Ohhh," breathed Raine, climbing the stairs from the entryway and standing at the top, paralyzed by choice. The chamber was taller than I remembered, huge, cavernous, lined with twenty-foot bookshelves and the gleaming lights of magitech lamps. I could see my path traced out on the floor, a fuzzy memory of where I had been and where I hadn't. The sea of dust made microscopic dunes and turned the vibrant tile grey and diffuse.

"That's a lot of books," said Genis, staring upwards. 

"Just _think_ of all the knowledge contained within those books," breathed Raine, a devout worshipper stepping into the grandest of cathedrals. 

I pulled down my hood, fringe sticking damply to my forehead. "I wasn't able to read any of them before," I said, "I'd love to take a look."

"Hey, the oracle stone!" Lloyd jogged forward, slipping a little on the way. The oracle stone was as I had left it - a raised podium before a magitech circle with three unlit platforms. Raine came to join him, attention temporarily diverted from the library.

"Just as you said," she half-turned her head to smile at me, then fixed her gaze on Colette. "Colette, if you would, please?"

"Yes, Professor," Colette obediently climbed the steps from the entrance and met Raine at the podium, her long, dripping hair leaving a path of miniature craters in her wake. She pressed her hand against the tablet, and the magitech circle before the podium shuddered to life, platforms and central hub burning blue. Whatever Colette had done sent up a little plume of dust that made me sneeze and cough.

The doors stayed closed.

"It didn't open," said Lloyd, disappointed. 

Kratos sighed. "No, look at the magic circle."

"Marvelous," gushed Raine, "This apparatus has awoken due to the oracle stone." She crossed her arms in thought. 

I drew out a clean handkerchief and tied it around my mouth and nose.

"It's not _that_ dusty," scolded Genis.

"What? It totally is," I protested, eyes already itching. "I don't know how you can stand it."

"I'm with Edie on this one," said Sheena, who was finished wringing the worst of the rainwater from her obi and was soon following my lead with a length of deep blue silk. "It's not good to breathe this stuff in."

"The other temples have been more... preserved," Genis said, at last. "How come this one's all dusty?"

"I believe," Kratos interrupted, "we are not yet in the temple proper. The other oracle stones have all been on the exterior, have they not?"

"I wonder what kind of magic you gotta use to hermetically seal a skyscraper," I mused, kicking a clump of wet sludge off one toe. I peered around at the books. Hopefully the decay wouldn't have affected them too badly? I didn't like to imagine Raine's expression, should the books turn to dust in her hands. It'd probably end up being _my_ fault, somehow. "Ugh, this is gross."

"Lloyd, stand on that blue circle," ordered Raine, emerging from contemplation like a surfacing whale. "Genis, you go to that one."

The boys obeyed until all three circles were occupied. There came a familiar low _thunk_ , and the leftmost door ground its way open. 

"Wow!" Lloyd turned in amazement, one way and then the other, "it opened, Professor!" He stepped off the platform. The door shuddered and slid shut again, the floor vibrating with the movement. Lloyd turned mid-stride and nearly fell, staring around at the door in disappointment and confusion. "Huh?" 

Sheena sneezed.

"It seems that it won't open without three people on these circles," said Raine, stepping off her own platform and looking thoughtful.

"Which means that three of us must remain here," mused Kratos.

"Hang on," I said, "are we sure it's people? Maybe it's just weight."

Raine frowned. "That's a fair point. Hm..." she cast around for something heavy, but the only things not nailed down were the books. I saw her take that in, eyes moving from the bookshelves, to the glassy surface of the platform, a puddle of dirt and mud. I sighed.

"Or we can do people," I said, "we don't have to mess up any books."

Lloyd brightened. "Hey, the door closes pretty slow. Maybe Edie could get people through?"

I shook my head. I couldn't risk accidentally bisecting someone. "I can't get three people through that quickly, not safely. And the door would still be closed after us, which is definitely a problem." I paused. "I could try and chisel some stone off one of the columns, if we want to try the weight thing, but..."

"You are _not_ damaging the temple!" objected Raine.

"I'm not going to!" I held up my hands, all innocence. 

"So three of us have to stay here?" Lloyd frowned.

"The Chosen will have to proceed into the temple," Kratos reminded him.

"Um," Colette started, "Lloyd can choose who goes."

Lloyd blinked at her. "Me? If that's what you want."

"I'm content to remain here," volunteered Raine, with embarrassing enthusiasm.

"You just wanna read," Genis accused. Raine was too far away to hit him, but he flinched, regardless.

Lloyd thought hard for a moment. "I'll take Kratos and Edie, then."

"Awwww," Genis complained, "I don't wanna be left behind with Raine - agh!"

He ducked as Raine suddenly circled the platform, cat chasing mouse. 

Raine finally caught Genis, gave him a good thwack upside the head, and took her place on the platform again, brushing imaginary dirt from her hands as she assumed an expression of scholarly detachment. "Well?" she asked Lloyd, "what are you waiting for? Get going."

"Does... Raine have a split personality, or something?" muttered Sheena.

"She really gets enthusiastic," beamed Colette. "It must be really nice to have siblings!"

"If you say so," Sheena gave her a little grin. "Good luck."

Colette flushed. "Thanks! And, um, thanks for coming all this way."

"Come on, let's go!" urged Lloyd, "I bet we'll be done in no time."

Sheena took the northernmost point of the circle, and the door scraped open.

"See you on the other side," I waved.

Lloyd, Colette, Kratos and I went on.

The door lead into a long, dim corridor, claustrophobic and narrow. And then, without warning, the right-hand wall and ceiling fell away, so that we stood in the belly of a massive spiral staircase. Broad steps hung over a blue-green abyss, stone falling into darkness even as I craned my head over the railing. Did the Tower go into the earth, as well as into the sky? I leaned over, further, squinting into the darkness, before Kratos seized the collar of my hood and pulled me backwards.

"This is an old building," he chastised me, "don't rely on the bannisters for support."

"All right, you can just say," I protested, massaging the spot where the fastener had pressed into my throat. 

The staircase was supported, top and bottom, by massive stone buttresses. They curved up and over the walkway, gleaming and strangely organic. The low light and inclination of the stonework gave the impression of a spine and ribcage, impossibly long and large, curling upwards towards the sky. Doorways punctuated the walls at irregular intervals, always impassible, and monsters clustered thickly on the landings.

"U-uuagh!"

"Be _careful_ ," I scolded, flashing out into open air to catch Lloyd mid-plummet. We landed hard back on the staircase, winding Lloyd and making me stumble. The hulking, half-ethereal form of a skeletal soldier looked bemusedly over the balustrade, no doubt wondering where we'd gone. Kratos was quick on the uptake, catching it on the back of the head so that it tumbled over and into darkness.

"Don't be careless," Kratos scolded, "you should stay clear of the edge."

"Yeah, yeah," wheezed Lloyd. "Ow."

"I'll catch you next time, Lloyd," Colette promised, smiling.

"Let's try to avoid a 'next time'," I chuckled.

We reached an open doorway after what felt like an hour. The staircase came to halt, balustrade marking off the end of one section and dropping off into the abyss. 

"Ugh, finally."

"Geez, it's bright in here," I said, squinting.

The doorway lead into a huge, domed octagonal chamber, the intercardinal walls plastered with elaborate masonry. Headless stone angels stretched their wings overhead, as delicate as waxwork, and acephalous saints sat in thickets of marble ferns and in the hollows of oak trees. The cardinal walls were set with massive, arching doorways, and the furthest from us was hung with a curtain of deep red velvet.

To our right, set into the wall where a door ought to have been, was a glass orb, not much larger than a basketball. It had the milky, opaque quality of an old streetlamp, unlit. The door to the left was sealed tight.

There was no sign of any big, conveniently mirrored cubes.

"Huh," said Lloyd, examining the velvet curtain. "There's gotta be something behind it, right?"

"I'll let you find out," I said, unable to shake a growing unease. I really didn't like the headless statues.

Lloyd lifted up one edge, cautiously revealing a narrow beam of white light. It carved a horizontal column across the room, disappearing into the darkness of the stairwell. Nothing else happened. I stared around, frowning. There was supposed to be a mirror, but there wasn't. 

"Hold that," I told him, crossing to the approximate middle of the room and drawing one of my less-used - and by extension, shinier - daggers. I held it in the stream of light, one hand pressed to the flat of the blade, and angled it like you might a signal mirror. The slice of brightness wobbled a little before coming to rest on the frosty surface of the glass orb. And then there was an eye-searing flash and a sound like shattering ice.

"The door's gone," Lloyd marveled, staring at the leftmost wall. The orb gleamed, even as I lowered my dagger. I followed his gaze. Huh.

Colette clapped, delighted. "You figured it out so quickly, Edie!"

"Uh, thanks," I said, awkward at the unearned praise.

From the chamber of statues, we entered onto a long hall, bordered on both sides by unconnected balconies. I could see, already, the gaps where a bridge might be. Ugh. I'd used a hard-light bridge only once before, at Thoda, and it'd been thoroughly unpleasant.

"Another podium," Kratos observed. There was, in fact, a podium and magic circle, albeit a much smaller one. It didn't look like a warp pad - the interior piece was too narrow.

"I wonder what it does?" Colette reached out, inquisitive - and Raine appeared, a translucent spectre. Lloyd startled backwards in surprise.

"Colette!" Raine brightened, her voice made tinny by the connection. "Marvelous! It must be linked to an apparatus somewhere. Colette, can you see this side?"

"Yes! Wow, I can see you too! That's amazing," beamed Colette.

"Can you hear me?" Raine repeated. "The door to the north opened! We're going in as well. Let's meet up and regroup before we release the seal."

Colette nodded. "We'll wait here!"

And then Raine was gone.

"Ugh, I'm glad we'll have Raine." I slumped down against one of the railings, which seemed reliably solid, whatever Kratos might think. "I wonder how long it'll take them to get up here."

"At least a while," Lloyd said, settling down by a wall, legs crossed. There was no dust here, as Kratos had intuited, and I had long since dragged the handkerchief down around my neck. Kratos stood near the doorway, a casual hand on the hilt of his sword. Colette glanced between me and Lloyd for a moment, hands fluttering in the pressure of choosing one or the other, before settling down at Lloyd's side, hands folded neatly in her lap. I grinned.

"What do you think the seal guardian will be like?" I asked, pulling my knees up to my chest.

"What do you mean?"

"Like," I paused. "The fire guardian was kind of a big dog, and then the water one was a mermaid, and the wind one was a bird..." I did not, in fact, remember the seal guardian of light. It was one of those many unimportant details that tended to leave the brain after a decade, alongside many, many important ones. 

"Oooh, It'd be nice if it was a cat," said Colette. "You know, because cats like sunlight!"

"Wasn't the first one, like, a dragon?" asked Lloyd. "Or a big lizard?"

"That... makes more sense," I admitted. "But I swear it looked like a dog."

"Oh! I bet it was a dragon-dog," said Colette, to general bemusement. "Like a sky dragon! They have fur."

"I... don't remember if it had fur," I admitted. "I've never seen a sky dragon."

"They're m...mythic, aren't they?" said Lloyd. "I think they're extinct or something."

"They're in some old depictions of Kharlan!" explained Colette. "They had fur _and_ scales and they were really, really long." 

"Oh. Like a sea serpent," I said.

"Yes! But in the sky," smiled Colette.

"I bet the seal guardian is... a plant," suggested Lloyd. "'Cause plants need light, don't they? For _photosynthesis._ " He sounded out the name like it was an ancient and dangerous word of power.

"Wow, Lloyd! I bet that's it," agreed Colette.

"Did you know," I said, absently, "more of a tree's mass comes from carbon generated via photosynthesis, rather from the earth?" Lloyd and Colette turned wide, uncomprehending eyes on me. "Er. Never mind."

"...So it turns... the _sun_ into bark and stuff?" Lloyd untangled it, nose scrunched up in concentration. "Huh. That's really cool! So that's kind of like when Genis says that matter and energy are the same thing."

"That's right," I clapped my hands together. "That was a really clever connection to make, Lloyd."

"Ah, well," Lloyd puffed up with self-satisfaction, "I'm pretty smart when I pay attention!"

 _You really are, though_ , I thought, as Kratos told him off for being proud of it.

I tipped over on my side, cool, clean stone pressing against my cheek as Lloyd and Kratos bickered. It was very peaceful in here, if you ignored the general feeling of spiritual claustrophobia. It was a little like being in a glass-bottomed submarine, a pocket of safety in a tremendous sea of pressure. Was that Luna, struggling to wake up? Was that the result of so much concentrated mana straining the seams of reality? 

I lie there, eyes closed, and let the ocean of light wash over me.

"Hm?" Colette, some time later, shifted and stood. I opened one eye. "I think they must be getting close!"

I climbed up and peered over the railing. We were on the second of three levels. Below us, after a moment of nothing, a door opened, and Raine, Sheena and Genis appeared.

"Hey down there," I called, waving.

"Hey, Professor, Sheena, Genis!" Lloyd grinned, chin resting on his folded arms.

"Heyyy!" Genis bounced up and down. "Ah, man, how are we supposed to get up there?"

"I think it's another light puzzle," Sheena said, glancing around. There were more of those glass spheres, and I was sure I spied a red curtain hidden beneath the far stairwell. "I think we're gonna have to find another staircase," she called up, waving.

"Ooor," I replied, "Colette and I can come and get you. Huge time-saver."

"I'm not sure if that's..." Raine began, a familiar frown crawling across her face.

" _Creative problem solving,_ " I insisted, flapping my hands at her. In the next moment, I was at her side. "Hello!" 

Sheena, who was relatively new to my frequent and trivial use of teleportation, jumped a little. 

I wound a hand around Raine's waist, and gave her a winning smile. Raine sighed, and looped an arm around my shoulders, seizing my free arm by the wrist. _Thump!_ I deposited her beside Kratos. On the ground, Sheena and Colette were navigating the social issue of how, exactly, Colette was going to do the lifting. I grinned, scooping up Genis, and returning to the balcony. Sheena and Colette arrived a moment later, a young groom carrying her bride.

"This feels like cheating," Sheena said, as we made our way up to the highest tier, where Colette had spied a warp platform. "I mean, the walkways are probably there for a reason."

"You guys are all so virtuous," I complained. And then I ran into a problem.

Colette could carry just about anyone, as long as it was one at a time. But Kratos and Lloyd had always opted out of this kind of thing, and while Lloyd would probably accept Colette's help... 

I held out an arm to Kratos. "This or flying?"

Kratos looked down at my arm, expression unreadable. "Very well," he said, reaching an arm around my neck to clasp my other shoulder. I wrapped the arm in question around his waist, and dropping him on the higher platform as one might a very hot potato. And then I went back for Raine.

Kratos wasn't so proud that he'd scorn necessary help. It was just the knowledge that he _could_ fly himself over, and had to pretend not to be able to. It was very slightly humiliating, like offering your arm to an old woman crossing the street only to find out she was actually the defending five-time-world-champion street crosser. There was the suspicion that, regardless of necessity, Kratos would resent you forever and ever.

"Another pair of circles," Raine observed, as Colette deposited Genis on solid ground. "Lloyd, you stand there. It should activate the warp."

"How come I always get volunteered?" asked Lloyd, but did as he was told.

"Well, if something bad happens, then everything works out," Genis joked.

Raine stepped onto the other circle, ignoring the exchange. There was a flash of white light, and a sound like a stone glancing off a frozen lake, and the warp spun to life. 

"I wonder..." she stepped off, and the warp continued to spin, a circle of thin blue light hovering between the supports. "It seems we can all go through this time." I glanced distrustfully between the pair of magic circles and the warp. What if it turned off midway? I'd seen what happened to Kvar's stone sprites. I didn't imagine living flesh handled the separation any better than a mana construct.

"It's perfectly safe," Kratos said, shocking me out of my uneasy stupor.

"Right," I grimaced, "if you say so."

"Is everyone ready?" asked Raine, pulling back the arms of her cloak. She had a hard, determined look to her face.

"I'm ready!" said Colette. The rest of us sounded off, last-minute battle preparations being taken on every side. And then Raine gestured towards the warp, and there was no other option but to go. I shuffled on behind Sheena, throat tight as she disappeared in a sudden vertical distortion of space. The surface of the warp pad was hot under my boots, and my shoulders were stiff with the tension of maintaining a game face.

I came out the other side in one piece.

The top of the Tower must have been above the clouds, because the sky overhead was blue, clear, and cold. A set of stone stairs hovered in midair, not perfectly aligned, and below us clouds snagged on the stonework, a boiling sea of grey and white. Brown and green turrets reached up, up into the abyss overhead, impossibly tall. I swayed in place, eyes locked on the distant slice of horizon. I was so far up, and on such unsteady ground. Was I imagining it, or did the stairs drift beneath me?

"It's okay," Colette murmured, hooking a hand through my elbow and leading me up the rest of the way. "I'd be scared, too, if I didn't have wings."

I glanced back. We'd all made it through the warp in alive and well.

Kratos was smirking at me.

"It's a perfectly reasonable fear," I said, only a touch defensively.

"You do realize you are among those few who would survive a fall from this height," he murmured, amused. 

I paused. I had _meant_ the warp, but that was true, too. I sighed, and laughed. "Yes, point taken." 

"Phew," Lloyd sighed, "Man, I'm beat."

"It's 'cause you get bored too fast," scolded Genis.

"Can we really fight up here?" asked Sheena, visibly nervous.

"Just... stay away from the edge," I said, mood dipping again as I realized who'd be in charge of recovery.

"The guardian's waking up," Genis cautioned, "I think it must be really powerful!"

I could feel it now, too, a sharp, shimmering thing, like a spear of boiling oil. The surface of the altar, that alien apparatus, was bubbling with it, and at any moment it would spill over, explode. And then the sky broke open, and the Iubaris burst forth, hooves leaving spots of sun-bleached stone behind it.

It was a pegasus, twelve feet tall and bristling with purple-blue spines, a tail like a mace swinging behind it. It was wearing some sort of armor, coral-colored and glimmering, and its open mouth revealed a strange internal blue glow, like a particularly vibrant jack-o-lantern. Its wings stretched from one edge of the roof to another, beating the air once, twice, each wingbeat like a shockwave. 

I hadn't expected a _horse_.

I hopped in, daggers bared, just as Iubaris brought back a foreleg for a good, hard kick. I fell back, sure that I was out of danger - and then a fan of blades extended from the hinge of metal just above its bare hoof, quick as lightning. I brought my arms up, on instinct, and the fan blossomed upwards, biting a half-inch into my forearm, through armor and bone and splattering blood. 

I pulled back, clutching at the wound, and watched as it lowered the hoof, blades folding back into place, nearly hidden behind the fetlock.

"It's got sharp bits!" I called, pressing my right hand down hard as my mind raced. I had to _concentrate_ . I stumbled another yard backwards, eyes unfocused. _"First Aid!_ " My palm flashed, green-blue, and a magic circle spun and sputtered into life around my feet, a net cast out and pulled sharply in again - and the pain receded. I flexed my arm experimentally, and then threw myself back into the fight.

There was nowhere really _safe_ \- its tail was long, dextrous and barbed, so that even its bare back was only vulnerable for moments at a time. 

" _Grave!_ " 

Genis' spell caught Iubaris in a sudden crush of stone, body suddenly pinned beneath four tons of summoned rock - not piercing, but trapping Iubaris, its equine neck caught between one spear and the earth, its tail snagged on stone. It gave a wordless, animal cry of fury, muscles straining against the weight. Now _this_ was the way to do it.

"Awesome, Genis!" Lloyd called, only moving out of range once the spell began to falter. "Can you immobilize it again?"

"Yeah!"

Iubaris was clever enough, in its moments of freedom, to target Genis - but Sheena blinded it, Lloyd bombarded it with waves of concussive force, and every time Genis finished a cast I took him far, far out of range. Trap him, attack him, stall for time once the spell wore off, repeat.

Lloyd leapt clear of a column of light just as Genis' cast went off, slabs of stone darting up, up, and then crashing down onto Iubaris' body, forcing him prone. He whirled around, swords glowing with the heat of his expelled mana, and slammed down, magic roaring through the air and colliding with the dome of Iubaris' skull. There was an explosion of light and sound, a shudder of air, and Iubaris discorporated, leaving nothing behind but a piece of shining metal.

It wobbled back and forth, ringing in the sudden quiet.

There was the pneumatic _hiss_ as the shrine 'opened', a woman silhouetted against the dim light, and closed again, leaving behind nothing at all.

Lloyd dropped down onto his rear, breathing hard.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Raine, already examining Genis for cuts and bruises.

My arm had started to hurt again, but it didn't seem like a dire issue.

Sheena had taken part of a force ray to the leg and suffered bad burns, and Lloyd had taken a bare hoof to the ribs, but that was about it. I examined the bit of discarded metal, which revealed itself to be an orphaned brass pauldron. Not terribly useful. I sighed, disappointed, and went to sit with Genis as we waited.

"That's all I can do for now," Raine said, at last, helping Lloyd to his feet. "Colette? We're ready."

"Um, then I'll go," said Colette, smiling back at us. 

I wanted to stop her. _You don't have to do this! We can find another way!_ I might even be able to convince her. But I didn't stop her, because this was how things were supposed to go, and I was a coward.

"Oh Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength!"

I waited, dispassionate, for Remiel.

But Remiel didn't appear.

Instead, the tower shook, golden light gathered above the altar... and Luna appeared, ghostly and translucent. 

She was much taller than a human woman, stately and beautiful, yellow-green hair tumbling past her waist in glistening curls. She sat on a crescent moon, staff pillowed on her lap, shining purple silk falling from her knees like a banner. She had the impression of just waking up, violet eyes half-lidded, long, dark eyelashes fluttering against pale, perfect cheeks. A halo of purple light spun in the air above her.

"...Where is Aska?"

Her voice was gentle, low, and melodious. 

"Whoa, it talked!" exclaimed Lloyd.

"Without Aska, I cannot do anything," Luna continued, face solemn, "I cannot form a pact, or a vow."

Wait.

" _Wait_ ," I hurried forward, "Luna, I know how to find Aska, please wait. I need to speak to you."

Luna turned her face from Colette, peering down at me with something falling far short of interest.

"You are not the summoner... You are..."

"Please, Luna," I pleaded, trying to compose myself. "I only wish to speak to you. Please."

"...Very well," she inclined her head. "What is it you would ask me?"

Shit. I hadn't thought it this far through. 

I took a deep breath. "Your summoner. What was the vow he made you?"

Luna looked at me, inscrutable. I had the sense she was... confused. "To bring peace. To bring and end to discrimination, and to end the struggle for Mana." She smiled, distantly. "To create balance."

"And did he keep that vow?"

"...No, he did not." She told me. "His vow to us was broken a very long time ago."

"What did he do to break that vow?"

Luna hovered in contemplation for a moment. She was impossible to read, serene and expressionless, as beautiful and meaningless as a jewel. "He stole hope from us," she said, at last, "and doomed the world to this half-life."

I stared up at her, feeling helpless and small.

"I must go," she said, "my power fades... Find Aska... restore my strength."

And then she was gone.

* * *

Colette lost her voice.

 _Offer your prayers at the Tower of Salvation_ , Remiel had said.

It was too soon.

"Colette can't feel? Or... or eat? Or sleep?" Sheena asked, voice quavering. "What kind of twisted salvation is this?"

The storm had disappeared. We made camp on the steps of the Tower. No one wanted to remain inside, even now. There was something oppressive about the atmosphere.

"It's part of becoming an angel," said Raine, solemn. She sat, as Genis paced. Lloyd and Colette stood together, uncertain, as Sheena argued with Raine. I sat, too, my stomach in knots. 

"But... what else is left?" Sheena asked, plaintive. "What else can they take from her?"

"This is the role of the Chosen," intoned Kratos. "To save Sylvarant, she must become an angel. That is how it has always been." His voice was wooden. His back was turned to the fire - a wordless wall separating _him_ and _us_. I wondered if this pained him.

"How can you be okay with this? Can't you see that she's suffering?" Sheena asked, desperate.

"You were trying to kill her," Raine pointed out. "This, at least, is Colette's choice."

"I know," Sheena said, shoulders falling. "I know. I wish... I knew what to do. I came here to protect Tethe'alla, but this world... this world is impoverished, and everyone's suffering. _Colette_ is suffering," she said, meaningfully. "But if I allow the Regeneration to occur, then Tethe'alla will become just _like this_." 

"But... right now you're helping us, right?" asked Genis.

" _Yes_ ," Sheena said, "but that doesn't mean I can just abandon Tethe'alla! I... don't know what to do. Isn't there any other way? A way for Sylvarant, Tethe'alla and Colette to all be happy?!"

"I wanna know, too," agreed Lloyd.

"Have you considered that perhaps nothing that convenient exists in the real world?" said Raine, making the argument without any pleasure.

"The real world?" I repeated, "Raine, we're supposed to be waking a _goddess_ . If she exists, then surely she has the power to _make_ that way. What's the point of gods if they can't fix things when people can't? Otherwise we're all just... otherwise we're all just subjects of a useless king. That's how the social contract works. That's how gods are supposed to work!"

"You're being purposefully obtuse," Raine argued, "The Spirits themselves are manifestations of natural magic, and it should extend that the Goddess, if she does exist, is as much an inevitable process as it is an entity. They aren't beholden to people, no more than the ocean is beholden to a minnow."

"But Cruxis is," I said. "Cruxis demands tribute under the guise of mediating between us and the gods. It's the oldest grift there is. If they can't help, what good are they?"

"What would you have us do?" asked Raine, suddenly quiet. "Fight all the hosts of Heaven? We might be strong, but we're still only mortals, Edie."

"Heresy notwithstanding," interjected Kratos, voice hard, "The best thing we can do right now is to save Sylvarant from its current crisis."

"But..." Lloyd spoke up. "What if we don't regenerate the world and just defeat the Desians?"

Kratos stood. "Although we succeeded in destroying a ranch, we cannot possibly eliminate all the Desians. They are a symptom of the declining world, not its cause. The mana will eventually be exhausted, and the world will die."

"Mana... is it really that important?" asked Lloyd.

I stared around at him, incredulous. Hadn't we discussed this?

"It's more important to life than water," said Genis, "Without it, the land will die. Mana is the source material that composes _everything_. At least, that's what I've been taught."

"Oh," Lloyd frowned. "Like... How energy and matter are the same. You need mana for stuff to exist. Mana is the same as power, and that's the same as stuff."

"...Yes," agreed Raine, looking impressed with this uncharacteristic show of intelligence, "but the Giant Tree of ever-flowing mana in fairy tales doesn't exist in the _real_ world. We live by chipping away at the limited amount of available mana. It may be impossible for Sylvarant and Tethe'alla both to flourish. Stagnate, perhaps, but Sylvarant will never recover from its current state without an influx of mana."

"Colette? Um," Lloyd coughed. Colette was holding his hand in both of hers. "R...e...m... Oh! You're spelling something, right? I'll... try... asking Remiel, if... there's... a way... to save... the two worlds."

"...If it doesn't work out," Sheena said, black eyes shining in the firelight, "I may have to kill you after all." 

"Sheena!" Genis burst out. Colette shook her head, almost smiling.

"When... that... time..." Lloyd read out, "when that time comes, I may... fight... back. Because... I love... Sylvarant, too." 

Sheena nodded, face creased in understanding and despair. "I understand. You intend to become an angel no matter what, don't you?" Colette nodded, letting go of Lloyd and rounding the fire to meet Sheena. She took Sheena's hand, and bent her head as she wrote. Sheena's face flickered - grief, to surprise, to grim acceptance. "Yeah," she said, at last, voice choked. "I hope so."

"So where do we go next?" asked Lloyd, sighing.

"We can't get to the Tower of Salvation on foot," said Raine. "We... may have to take a boat from the southern continent." Her face was grey and scrunched at the thought.

"Oh, did you ever find that book I mentioned?" I asked, dragging myself out of a reverie. 

"Yes," said Raine, "yes, I have it here, but... I'm afraid much of the book is useless to me. Boltzmann achieved the heights of his work with the use of a focus," she explained, "in his case, a charm made from the Mana Leaf herb. But that herb is extinct, and the alternatives he lists... Mana fragments are unheard of, and I somehow doubt we'll stumble across a unicorn anytime soon."

"A unicorn?" Sheena blinked down at us, one hand still caught in both of Colette's. 

"Yes," Raine said, sighing. "A unicorn horn would work, but unicorns haven't been seen in this world for a long time."

"Um," Sheena fidgeted, for a moment, "this is going to sound weird, but I think I might actually know where you can find one."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ I rewrote this chapter like twenty times and I'm still not super happy with it but graaaawhhh. Thank you so much to everyone who has read so far, and especially everyone who's commented! You keep me alive in these long, lonely months.


	11. Asgard, Seal of Water, again

In the game, the unicorn had been trapped at the bottom of what looked like a small pond, clearly visible from the shoreline. 

Lake Umacy was massive, swollen with snowmelt, its banks spongy and uneven. Leafless willows bent in sorrow over the water's edge and young poplars swayed like reeds on muddy, burbling earth, turning up carpets of whip-thin mycelliae. An ancient conifer, bisected by lightning, protruded from the lake at one end, like a spoon in a soup bowl, its ragged end flaking and splintered.

The unicorn, larger than a horse, lay trapped on the lakebed beneath the carcass of the tree. The tree must have weighed tons, even before it had become waterlogged, and now had driven deep into the silt, wedging the unicorn even more tightly against the lakebed. The unicorn had only survived by enveloping itself in a bubble of air. Its body shone dimly up through the dark water, an unmistakable but very distant outline. 

Manpower alone wasn't going to do it, and it would take a very strong swimmer to reach the unicorn, and more than that to free it. Besides, there was the risk of upsetting the unicorn; they might have been famously benevolent and ethereal, but a few months trapped underneath a frozen lake was enough to sour anyone's mood. 

"If I could summon Undine, it would be no problem," Sheena sighed, "but as it is right now..."

"Undine would be... at Thoda, right?" Lloyd piped up, "That's not  _ that _ far. Anyway, if we're going to be taking a boat to the Tower of Salvation, I bet the Summon Spirit of Water would be super handy! She could get us there, no problem."

"She's a nature spirit, not a sailboat," Genis complained.

"...Lloyd does have a point," Raine admitted, "the sea in the tower bay is notoriously treacherous. Attempting the voyage on our own may very well result in a wreck, but with Undine's assistance..."

The conversation stalled temporarily as Colette wrote on Lloyd's hand.

"I would... like to... meet Undine... if... Mister... Kratos... is... okay... with... waiting."

Lloyd turned defiant eyes on Kratos. Kratos sighed.

"The journey may take us months. But," he allowed, "if we do travel by boat, we may need Undine's assistance." 

"And, forgive me for saying so," Raine interjected, "but this may be the only opportunity we have to reclaim Boltzmann's techniques. We have no idea if Sheena will be able to remain with us, even if Cruxis is able to help, and without Boltzmann's techniques we can do little for the victims of the human ranch. It's better to seize the opportunity now than let it go past."

It would be at  _ least _ a few weeks; travel time varied widely depending on the weather, but if things went well - from here to Hakonesia, to Thoda, to Hakonesia and here again - it would be perhaps five weeks, maybe more, maybe less. That was doable.

_ And, _ went a little voice,  _ it gives us more time with Colette before the end. _

Genis and Lloyd were still ignorant of Colette's ultimate fate, but there was no denying that overwhelming feeling of narrative momentum. Change happened all the time, but people mostly stayed the same, and so it could often feel like nothing changed at all. This was different; Colette was important, and Colette was ours. The day she entered the Tower of Salvation would change the world, one way or another.

But we could put it off a little longer.

"...It is your decision," Kratos said, turning his face away from Colette's wide eyes.

Colette turned a sunlit smile on us.

"All right!" cheered Genis, "Let's go see a Summon Spirit!"

"We're... relying... on you, Sheena," Lloyd read out, as Colette scribbled. Sheena grinned.

"I won't disappoint you," she promised.

* * *

"How did you know Luna's previous summoner was male?" asked Kratos, voice low and deceptively casual. He didn't often initiate conversations, especially not while we were traveling. I didn't speak to Kratos much as a  _ rule _ \- two people with so many secrets didn't end up with much to talk about. It was like playing checkers with only half a set.

I blinked, playing at bewilderment to cover the sudden rush of panic. 

"I guess I shouldn't have assumed," I laughed, sheepish. "Sheena's a girl, and a summoner. My bad."

Kratos sighed. "I wasn't questioning your... choice of pronouns. You sounded quite knowledgeable. Have you... studied Summon Spirits?"

I smiled. "I heard a lot of stories about them when I was younger. And I know a guy who knew a guy who knew a lot about summoning." Leave him to work  _ that _ one out. "I'm just relieved she answered back at all. It's not every day you have a conversation with a deity."

"No, I suppose not."

"Anyway, you know a lot more than I do," I continued, unwilling to let him grill me without at least a  _ little _ payback, "I'm always impressed at your breadth of knowledge. Were you formally educated?" 

"...I was. I attended a small grammar school."

That surprised me. 

"Huh. I have a hard time imagining you as a child."

"I find it very easy to imagine you as a child."

I socked him lightly in the shoulder, drawing my fist back suddenly as common sense kicked in. But Kratos only gave me a dim, amused sort of look.

"A timely demonstration."

"Ahhh, what can I say," I laced my hands behind my head, "I have a youthful spirit."

Kratos lapsed into silence.

He broke it to ask, "And what do you think of this detour? Two, perhaps three months... is a marked increase." I understood what he was saying. Out of the seven of us, I was the only one without skin in the game. Colette wasn't my family, not my childhood friend, and not my client. I was just a hanger-on. 

"I'm ride or die, baby," I said, grinning over at him.

"...Not, perhaps, that Lloyd and the Chosen provide ample cover to a wanted criminal," he said, all innocence.

"Don't be ridiculous," I said, piously. "I'm practically a saint."

If Kratos thought I was a petty thief, all the better. I was safer the surer he was. 

But Kratos was smart. Not as smart as Raine, maybe, but old and clever. He was one of those people who listened - who noticed things, by dint of keeping their mouth shut and their eyes and ears open. The only thing that kept me from really being  _ frightened _ of him was the knowledge that, at the end of the day, Kratos was a lousy actor, and a lousier liar.

I had him at a disadvantage, of course. Knowing someone's best-kept secrets and their basest motivation gave you a kind of unfair leg up, interpersonally. It was playing dirty.

"Of course," Kratos said, dry as dust.

I never claimed to be sportsmanlike.

* * *

March drifted in, grey and freezing.

The ground underfoot squelched in some places and groaned in others - rivers froze and swelled and froze again. We traveled south for Hakonesia. A cold wind swept westward, a wave of frigid damp air that only broke on the Asgard mountains. The Tower became a strip of darkness against a dark sky, wet fog curling in the foothills and the valley of Salvation like great pale slugs.

* * *

"We'll have to stop in Asgard," Raine sighed. "Our supplies won't last until Thoda."

_ One could argue _ , I thought, peering down at our meager rations,  _ they haven't lasted until now _ . The House of Salvation could no more afford to supplement our larder than we could afford to add to theirs - although we were in the habit of leaving good donations. Money was no trouble, but no one had anything to spare. If we skipped out on Asgard, then we'd be on our own, save for the occasional impoverished village, until Palmacosta, and that wouldn't be good.

"We'd better," complained Genis, "I'm almost out of pretty much everything." Genis carried everything that made our meals edible - salt, sugar, and spices. You  _ could _ get by without them, but unseasoned food made for a very unfriendly group of travelers.

"We'll be in town around your birthday," I said to Raine, pleased with myself for remembering. "We should celebrate while we're there."

"That's... really not necessary," she demurred.

"Aw, please, Professor?" pleaded Lloyd. "We haven't done anything fun in forever!"

"This-" Kratos began to speak, but Lloyd interrupted him.

"Isn't a vacation, I know," Lloyd said, "but It'd still be nice to relax a bit.  _ And _ ," he brightened, "you and that researcher guy can meet up and study some of the books you got at the Tower!" He grinned, justifiably proud of this master-stroke show of persuasive reasoning. I could see indecision settle heavily over Raine's features. Resignation had not only settled over Kratos' face, but had colonized it, and was no doubt experiencing a sudden industrial boom.

"I would appreciate Linar's opinion on several of the texts," Raine admitted. "He has a reasonably large reference library, and it may be of use in deciphering some of the older books."

"Who's Linar?" asked Sheena. 

Lloyd launched into the story of our last visit to Asgard, embellishments checked here and there by Genis and Raine.

"Wow. I'd heard about some of it, but I had no idea you guys were involved," Sheena said, shaking her head. "You really get around."

I imagined, in a distracted kind of way, what it would be like when we got the Rheairds. We  _ would _ get the Rheairds - we needed them - but they seemed impossibly far off. Travel would be so  _ different. _ How fast could you go in an open aircraft like that? How long could you bear to ride it half-standing? How low did you have to fly to avoid freezing? How many bugs would end up splattered up your front?

I wondered how long this detour would take by air. Days?  _ Hours? _

"It'll add a few days to the journey," Raine sighed, "but it's necessary."

For now, we walked. And an army marches on its stomach. 

Or something.

* * *

Winter had stolen the color from the hills. 

The turf remained, yellow-grey and grazed short by the sheep that drifted along the landscape like low-lying clouds. Asgard settled into the valley, hollow and windswept, shutters closed against the chill air and smoke curling off a forest of shrublike smokestacks. Little else had changed - the stones stood as they had for hundreds of years, and the growth of wooden cottages had shed any trace of snow. 

Above the homes spun windmills, dozens of them, creaking with the weight of timber. Ornamental spinners perched on rooftops and in shop windows, brightly colored and giving the city the impression of a very sparse flower garden. Here and there windsocks and streamers flew out in the breeze, painting the grey-white sky in strips of blue and red and orange. 

Our inn room overlooked a slice of hillside speckled with early wildflowers.

It was very pastoral.

"What say you, birthday girl?" I asked Raine. It was early afternoon, and Lloyd and the kids were already discussing a game of hide-and-go-seek. They'd spied a group of kids playing on the way in, and Lloyd and Colette had latched onto the idea like burrs in a fur coat. Genis was game, and even Sheena was going to join in. Now it was just a question of what the grown-ups would be doing with the day. "Work or play?"

Raine gave me a look, annoyed and fond all at once. "We can worry about supplies tomorrow. _ I'd _ like to call on Linar today."

"Kratos?"

Kratos, who was already taking a fresh inventory, raised an eyebrow at me.

"You can play with us, Edie," Genis offered.

"Hey, she can turn invisible," Sheena protested.

I smiled lopsidedly in her direction. "It's okay, I thought I'd go along with Raine. Say hi to Harley and Aisha."

I was too sluggish, too mentally fatigued, to do much. It happened, sometimes, on days off from work or after finishing a big project, and my body started to demand payment on old credit - I started to shut down, starting from the head and proceeding down the body until I was a horizontal lump. It was nice to see the kids acting like kids, and I didn't want to bring down the energy.

I was secretly relieved at Raine's decision. Shopping tomorrow meant we might spend another night in town. 

"Come on, then," Raine beckoned, "we're losing daylight."

Aisha and Harley weren't in. 

"Um, Aisha's at a friend's, and Harley's working," said Linar, apologetic. "But, uh, I'd be very glad to help you, Professor!"

"Wonderful," said Raine, dropping her bag with a heavy  _ thump _ . I was impressed at how  _ many _ books Raine could carry, when she put her mind to it. She carried only a few of our essential supplies, but in the last week or so she had doubled or tripled the weight of her burden with books alone. She'd even bullied Kratos and Lloyd into carrying a portion of her small library, so that she had smuggled some three dozen books to Asgard.

There wouldn't be room for them on the way down to Thoda, so they would have to stay here, with Linar.

"Edie, do you read angelic?"

I sat on an upturned bucket in the corner of Aisha's kitchen, head bent backwards against the windowsill. Raine and Linar buzzed about, laying tomes open on the table or propping them open on chairs, marking pages with slips of linen and string. Something else was happening with loose paper and charcoal. I had no idea what they were doing, and wasn't in a mood to ask. I lifted my head, neck creaking painfully. 

"No?" 

Raine clicked her tongue. "You should learn. The alphabet is similar to Modern with only minor changes, and many of the phonemes are the same. I would  _ appreciate _ the assistance." She used the word 'appreciate' in the way other people might use a loaded gun or a dagger aimed at the vitals. 

"Modern what?"

"Kharlesian."

I yawned. "What's that?"

Linar, who had been peeling apart the whisper-thin pages of some ancient manuscript, looked up in astonishment. 

Raine sighed. "The language we're speaking at this  _ very moment. _ "

I yawned again, as a clumsy feint. "I'm only joking. Anyway," I said, "wouldn't these be in Modern anyway? Or did they speak something else back then?"

"They had a more archaic vocabulary, but no, a Kharlesian speaker from a millennia ago could still be understood by a speaker today," Raine told me. "But literacy was very,  _ very _ rare, and almost exclusive to the clergy. In fact, until Spiritua's time, it was considered sacrilege to translate the Holy Book of Martel into base Kharlesian. Angelic was the language of scholars, priests and kings. People wouldn't have dreamed of writing these manuscripts in Modern."

"So the only people who could read the holy texts were priests," I said, unsurprised. "When did people start printing books in Modern?"

Linar brightened. "Did you know that the first printing press was invented here, in Asgard? That was in the time of Cleo II. Vegetable-based paper was invented here, too."

"...Wasn't that a super long time ago?" I frowned, losing track of what came before what. I'd assumed that the line of Cleos had come sometime  _ before _ the Kharlan War, but that couldn't be right. 

"Printing presses are a  _ perierat machina _ . You could say that the Cleonian printing press was the first iteration of the invention.  _ Perierat machina _ refers to those technologies lost and once more recovered through cycles of the world regeneration," she explained. "Many so-called 'modern innovations' are merely rediscoveries."

"So," I said, dragging my knees up to my chest, "Cleo II lived  _ after _ the Kharlan War."

"Yes," Raine agreed, "from CE 67 to CE 94."

"...Year zero being when Martel 'retreated unto the heavens'."

"Yes, that's correct."

"So does all magitechnology predate the 'current era'?"

"Yes, of course," Raine paused, "except for the magitechnology preserved by the Desians, of course."

"So most of this stuff disappears," I waved at the printed-and-bound books on Linar's wall, "because mana disappears?"

"Not necessarily," Linar piped up. "During the fall of the Sylvarant Dynasty, Desians usually targeted libraries and factories. It may seem counter-intuitive, but Desians were once much more powerful than they are today!"

I tried to follow. "So," I said to Raine, trying to put it in plain terms. "Spiritua completes the regeneration, and everything's fine for a bit. Then the Tower disappears, and the Desians show up. They raze cities and destroy tech. But as the world keeps declining... the amount of available mana limits them, too?" That explained Kvar's rollbacks, at least.

"...Yes, after a fashion. They depend on magitechnology, and magitechnology consumes vast amounts of mana. Given enough time, it would become unusable. But by then..." She trailed off.

By then, it'd be too late.

I tipped my head back, resting on the windowsill.

You had to hand it to Mithos. It  _ worked. _ It wasn't nice, or fair, or even good, but it  _ worked _ . No one got strong enough to challenge Cruxis, or cause mass destruction, or upset the social order. If you considered 'adhering to the status quo' as a benchmark for a good civilization, then you were set. It was a world that couldn't change - at least, not too much. The 'Age of Lifeless Beings' was the next logical step.

My back ached.

"Edie?"

"Hmm?"

I startled. My mouth felt very fuzzy, and there was a wet spot on my right cheek.

"You're getting in the way," Raine said, motioning the four square feet of real estate occupied by myself and the upturned bucket. She looked very serious. I glanced around at the forest of open tomes. Had they gotten even more books, somehow? "Perhaps you can figure out what to do for dinner."

I blinked, head pounding, and tried to remember how my legs worked.

"Okay. Don't stay out all night."

Raine didn't bother saying goodbye.

I picked my way out of Aisha's house. The sky was already a rosy plum and speckled with ghostly stars. Had I nodded off?

"Kids not back yet?" I asked Kratos, dropping my pack near the door. 

We were staying in the largest of Asgard's three inns, and we'd taken a  _ suite _ . It was positively luxurious - a foyer, a private bathroom, a loft, and even a  _ table _ with  _ chairs _ . It was a rare occasion that found us eating anywhere but on the floor or ground, cross-legged and balancing bowls and plates on folded knees. I'd missed flat surfaces. Even Kratos was taking advantage of the rare opportunity to read with his elbows up.

"No."

"Plans for dinner?"

I must have sounded pleading. He gave me a pitying glance. "I'll take care of it."

"Ugh, you're the best," I sighed, making for the stairs and the set of loft beds. The girls would be sleeping up top - the boys would take the lower set of mattresses. I collapsed on the bed farthest from the staircase, not bothering to disrobe, and drifted off.

* * *

"Are you really twenty-four?"

Raine gave me a pinched look. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, elves live forever," I said, gesturing to nothing in particular.

It hadn't really been a  _ party _ , but there'd been cake and a big, hearty meal. We'd been in Asgard three full days - practically a vacation. We'd be leaving in the morning, striking out towards danger and uncertainty, and away from straw mattresses and bath tubs. But in this moment, Raine and I sat outside, on a stone bench not far from the inn, and drank in the night sky.

You'd think, after traveling for so long, that you'd get used to it, but you didn't. It was a clear night and the stars spilled across the heavens in a vast, gleaming belt of light. I never got bored of looking.

"Of course I'm twenty-four," Raine frowned, "are you really twenty-four?"

"Yes, I was just wondering," I said, soothingly, "if you were twenty-four in elf years or twenty-four in human years."

"Dare I ask what twenty-four would be in elf years?"

I shrugged. "It's like the opposite of dogs."

"You've made this up," Raine sighed, leaning into my shoulder. She'd had some wine with dinner, and it had softened something in her. Lloyd and Genis had been allowed a little, too, by far the best preventative measure. "Hm. Ten years ago I was tutoring in Palmacosta," she said. "Not for long, of course. Genis and I traveled west after that. By way of the northern continent."

"You were tutoring at fourteen?"

"Yes, I was," Raine sighed. "I was self-taught, of course, but confidence was enough to cover the gap."

"How old were you when you settled in Iselia?"

"Seventeen, I believe."

"You're pretty well-traveled."

"Yes, I suppose I am."

"Were you hired right away in Iselia?"

"Oh, yes," Raine agreed, "we only traveled so far north because I'd heard there was a vacancy. The last schoolteacher had passed away a year or so before I arrived, so there was a lot of catching up to do. There was no official syllabus, of course. Parents were happy if their children learned enough to write their names. I like to think I somewhat improved the standard of education."

"Considering the examples at hand," I smiled up at her, "I'd say you improved by about thirty percent."

"Quiet, you."

"I'm surprised, though," I admitted, "from the way you talk I assumed most people could read and write."

"Goodness, no," Raine sniffed. "Mandatory schooling is practically nonexistent outside of major townships. Even Iselia only built a schoolhouse after Phaidra arrived, or so I'm told. I've been to villages where the only people who can read and write are the priests, and even they might be inconsistent, depending on where they were trained up. No, most children get all the learning they'll ever need at Sunday school, or from their mothers."

Raine was, perhaps,  _ too _ used to my broad ignorance.

"You did a good job. Lloyd's a lot brighter than he seems, isn't he?"

"Yes, although I'm not sure I'm responsible for that," Raine said. "Dwarves take education very seriously."

"Weird question," I said, "dwarves. There can't just be one on the whole planet, right?"

Raine chuckled. "Of course not. But they're long-lived, like elves, and much more reclusive. They were the original masters of magitechnology," she explained, "and were unjustly blamed in early stages of the Kharlan War. I don't know if you've heard Lloyd or the other children, but the Dwarven code of ethics is quite pacifistic. I wouldn't be surprised if they withdrew as a response to misuse of magitechnology."

"So where've they all gone?"

Raine shrugged. "I don't know. I  _ do _ know that surface dwarves are notoriously secretive about their kinsmen. It may be that they have vast underground cities. It might be that they're bordering on extinction. I really couldn't say."

"Weird to think that there'd be so many people underground. What would they eat?"

"I don't care to speculate."

"Hm."

"What about you?"

"Hm?"

"What were you doing at fourteen?" Raine asked, turning slightly towards me. The starlight made her look slightly unearthly. 

I considered that. "I was in school," I said. "I was  _ in _ school for most of my life, believe it or not. God, I was an idiot at fourteen. I was starting to realize that I wasn't as smart as my parents thought I was, and I didn't know what to do with myself. I was in this En - literature class, accelerated learning, and I went the whole year without reading any of the books. I have no idea why I didn't, I just... I was always so tired and confused."

"I wonder if we would have gotten along," Raine mused.

"Probably not," I sighed, "I was a brat. I would have thought you were amazing, but you'd have hated me."

"I don't know," Raine smiled, "you're funny, at least."

I grinned. "I take that as a high compliment."

There was a long and comfortable silence. The air was cold and clear and smelled ever so faintly of grass. I loved being outside at night, and it was only improved by someone to keep you company. It was, in its own way, magical.

"You'll keep your promise, won't you?"

I blinked, not following the thread of the conversation.

"Which one's that?"

"You'll tell me who you are," Raine reminded me. "I've gotten too comfortable not knowing."

"Yeah, of course."

"Good."

* * *

"Edie."

We had made camp some distance south of Hakonesia Peak. We would be at Thoda within a week or so; the weather had been kind, and spring was creeping up the continent. The air was fresh and cold, the earth nearly thawed, and I was in an excellent mood. I was practicing - finally - my throwing, hucking darts and knives into the tree-line with increasing ease.

It was one of those new skills that felt slightly familiar, as if I had once been very good at it but had since fallen out of practice. But muscle memory only took me so far; I was in the habit of overthinking, and choked nearly as often as I hit a bullseye. 

"Hey," I said, stowing the last of my darts in a leather holster. They held up to repeated use very well; monster parts usually did. Kratos glanced at the birch I'd been using as target practice.

"You're getting better," he said.

"Thank you," I smiled. "What's up?" I didn't foresee him coming over just to compliment me.

"You often lose track of the date," he said, "I thought you would like to know that tomorrow is April 1st."

A ripple of cold - not dread, just mild shock - spread outwards from the middle of my chest. "Oh." I turned my face towards the birch tree, too, so that I could collect my thoughts. Kratos was still there when I looked back. "Thank you for reminding me. Would you... I'm going to go sit by myself for a while," I said at last. He nodded, returning to camp, and I crossed the clearing to pick up the detritus of my training. My heart felt congested and too-large in my ribcage.

* * *

Rosemary and fennel, from the larder, wild pansies - an anemic early daisy, or some other white flower, a stringy yellow wildflower that might have been rue - I folded them into a square of old handkerchief, sure that I was forgetting something. Violets, that was it - but what did violets even look like? There were no purple blooms on the roadside, so these would have to do. They joined the others in the handkerchief.

I waited until the children had started their lessons, and then I went into the heather, and dug a trench with the heel of my boot.

The dirt was loamy and cool in my hands. 

It was at times like this that I wished I had religion. 

I didn't believe in heaven, hell, or purgatory - although dharma was now at the forefront of my mind when I thought about life and death - and I had no ritual to honor my mother. Even this little bonfire of flowers was for my sake, rather than hers; she was dead and gone and had never been one for Shakespeare in the first place. But she had been a gardener, a lover of nature, and so this was something to connect me to her, however meaningless.

I watched the little sachet burn.

She would have been better at all this. My mother was brave, kind, and honest.

The truth was that I had never been as good to my mother as she deserved. Some girls say that their mother is their best friend, but she was never that - she was my  _ mother _ . I had loved her. She embarrassed me and annoyed me and looked after me, which was what mothers did. And when my father had died, and my acceptance letters had rolled in, I'd fled as far from home as I could manage. 

I never did things like this for my father. I remembered him, and cried for him and told stories about him, but I never said little prayers for him, or burned flowers in his memory, or dropped painted stones into his favorite creek. It might have been easier if either of them had graves, but they'd both wanted to be cremated and scattered. There were no headstones, no memorials - just me.

I'd loved my dad, but I'd never felt guilty about his death.

My dad was older. He wasn't in great health, even when I was a kid. It hadn't been a surprise. It'd still hurt, but it'd been a clean, virtuous kind of pain.

I'd gone back to be with my mom near the end. She'd been ready to go. I hadn't been ready to be left behind. I resented her for that. I resented her for a lot of things that didn't make sense, and that made me feel guilty - and that made me want to atone. And so I burned flowers, or tied yellow ribbons on the oak tree near the bench she liked, or bought awful little tsotchkes to add to her collection. 

If I had spent more time with her - if I had gone to college closer to home, if I had been a better daughter - then my grief might have been some soft ache, a wistful moon-drenched sadness - rather than muddy and full of prickling detritus. 

A hand touched my shoulder.

I whipped around, a dagger to Colette's pale throat. Her eyes were wide, her hands thrown up in a universal gesture of innocence.

I inhaled sharply. The night air made my lungs hurt. 

I lowered the dagger.

"Sorry," I whispered, "you surprised me."

Colette ducked her head, the very image of penitence. She gesticulated vaguely at me, at the remains of the burnt sachet - there was concern in her face. I gave her a weak smile.

"I'm all right. Sorry. Just..." I glanced at the smoldering patch of dirt. "Nothing."

She mouthed a question.

Did I want company? I sighed. "Yes," I said, "yeah, I'd... like some company."

Colette sank to her knees beside me, ankles delicately folded to one side.

"Sorry, I don't mean to wander off," I said, "I thought..." I shook my head. That it would make me feel better? That was never the reason. That it would lessen my guilt? Perhaps.

Colette reached hesitantly - and with exaggerated care - towards my hand. I offered it up to her, and she began to write.

_ You looked sad _ .

"I'm sad," I agreed, "but I'll be okay." 

Dead people are dead all the time - but they're especially dead on birthdays, holidays and anniversaries.

_ Why flowers? _

"My mom loved flowers," I said, "I actually hated her garden because I hated weeding in summer. But it was 'her place'. And all the neighborhood kids treated her like their own grandmother, and she would let them have tea parties in the garden."

_ She sounds nice. _

"She was. You would have liked her."

Colette smiled, then scooted closer on the dirt, resting her head against mine. The skin of her cheek was firm and cold, her hand in mine unusually stiff. The spring breeze picked up the smell of wet dirt, of new growth - and also the creeping, subtle smell of something preserved. It was undetectable unless Colette was very close; the smell of fixative, or of arrested decay. I leaned into her, taking comfort in the familiar smell of her soap. That, at least, hadn't changed.

"In another life," I said after a while, "you could be my little sister. I always wanted a little sister."

_ I'd like that _ .

"I was always jealous of my older sisters for growing up with one another."

_ Siblings are nice. _

"They are." I squeezed Colette's hand.

We sat there for a long time, watching the passage of dark clouds over the field of starlight. Black mountains ate up the deep purples of the horizon, and the pale blue face of the false moon sat soft and heavy in the sky. The smell of burning wildflowers curled into the air, thin sheets of smoke whisked off into nothingness, and beneath us the damp, soft earth became fragrant with the promise of new growth. It was a moment of stillness and beauty.

I closed my eyes.

* * *

"What do you think you'll do when all of this is over?"

I glanced up at Lloyd.

"The Journey?" He nodded. "I don't know. Help you guys with whatever you need, probably." Even after the worlds were reunited there would still be so much to do. "I considered..." I paused. "I thought I might go home, but I'm not sure anymore."

Lloyd frowned. "Why not?"

I shrugged. "I mean, I might, still, but... with the Desians, and Exspheres... I don't know how long that'll take."

"But you could always go home to visit," suggested Lloyd. "Even if it's just for a little while."

"Maybe," I agreed. "I haven't decided. I've never been good at figuring out what I'm supposed to do," I admitted. "Like, what the best, most morally correct thing is." Did I owe Aselia my labor? My  _ life?  _ There was too much to do to ever be really absolved of duty or obligation. It was like that at home, too, except easier to forget. "If I'm doing the right thing or the easy thing. It doesn't matter, I guess."

"What about what you wanna do?" asked Lloyd. "Isn't that important, too?"

Was it? I'd never wanted anything bad enough to call it a 'dream'.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Huh," said Lloyd, not expecting the question to be turned back on him. "I think I wanna get a boat, for sure. And sail around the world without worrying about Desians and stuff. That'd be pretty cool, right? I bet there's all kinds of interesting stuff we haven't seen yet."

"That sounds awesome," I agreed, "I love boats!"

"Everyone can come with," he said diplomatically, "but it's gonna have to be a big boat."

"You gotta have a big boat," I nodded.

"Do you think we could get Raine to come?" he asked, after a moment. "It wouldn't be the same without the Professor."

"Maybe," I said, "maybe once Sheena can summon Undine, Raine won't be so scared of the water anymore."

"Right," Lloyd nodded. "Then I've just gotta convince Kratos! He doesn't think I'm serious about the boat."

"You'll get him," I promised. "He's not getting out of a boat party."

I pictured the seven of us on the deck of a yacht, sprawled out in swimsuits and sunglasses, blue sky above and blue sea below. I'd never been much for sunshine, but I couldn't imagine anything better than that easy, restful breeze, condensation gathering on a cool glass - and somewhere, somehow, the dulcet tones of Jimmy Buffet. It was a stupid dream, maybe - but it was a good one.

I smiled.

* * *

When we arrived at the docks, it was raining.

It wasn't enough to make the short journey by washtub dangerous, but it was enough to make it miserable.

"Ugh, I thought we were done with  _ water _ ," complained Lloyd.

"No one's enjoying it, Lloyd," scolded Raine. Her hair hadn't been trimmed since our first visit so while it was certainly long enough to fasten into a bun, Raine hadn't done a very good job. Now she was tormented both by the pull of the clumsy knot and by the loose, fine hairs sticking all across her forehead and down her neck. The humidity only intensified the nearer we came to the temple, so that soon we were all weighed down and overheated.

Thoda island was nearly deserted on account of the foul weather - the only other visitor I could see was a young man accompanied by a scruffy dog, the both of them sheltering beneath an awning on the far left viewing platform. 

Someone was trying to build a path up to the temple door. The light bridge only appeared for Colette, but that hadn't stopped the enterprising locals from anchoring iron pitons into the sheer cliff backing the pools and creating a kind of terrifying narrow stairway out of thin planks and hemp rope. The skeleton of a more permanent structure climbed a little higher along the stone wall, with the beginnings of a platform sketched out some forty feet up. 

"I still can't believe the pilgrimages," Sheena marveled. "People are insane. Your roads are full of monsters and Desians and they still take vacations?"

"It's not a vacation," pointed out Raine, "it's a religious duty. Any able-bodied Martellian of means is compelled to make the pilgrimage. It's certainly an obligation for the upper-middle classes. Do you think the Houses of Salvation would survive without their patronage?"

"It just seems - well. Tethe'alla has pretty safe roads and even then only really rich folks do the pilgrimages."

"The standards of wealth and poverty are probably very different in Sylvarant," Raine said, "as well as concerns about personal safety. Even the wealthiest Palmacostan is threatened by Desians even in their own homes. And besides, the worst a pilgrim can suffer on the road is mortal injury. Choosing  _ not _ to go when they're able to might condemn their immortal soul to an eternity of suffering."

"Geez," said Sheena. "People here really think that?"

"People in Tethe'alla don't?" Raine challenged.

"Well, I'm from Mizuho," Sheena said, "but the Martellians  _ I've _ met don't seem like the type to risk their lives for the afterlife."

"I would have thought Tethe'allans would have been  _ more _ pious, not less," Raine said, "given the relative prosperity."

"They're definitely still pious," snorted Sheena, "but you couldn't call them virtuous, that's for sure." 

If you excluded Colette - and Kratos, by necessity - ours was probably one of the most atheistic collections of people in Sylvarant. 

"Hey," I asked, after a moment, "what does the Book of Martel say about Summon Spirits?" 

The temple air was damp and briny. The blue-green walls shimmered with condensation, and fallen pillars swam in shining pools of orange calcite. The caverns turned every breath into a tremendous, watery echo. The exterior portions of the temple were stretches of marble and limestone architecture, swamped with rainwater and air-dwelling sea monsters. There were fresh blooms of blue-white lichen and colonies of emerald sea-grass waving in the water below.

"Relatively little," said Raine. " _ Ascendence 2:19 _ describes the spirits as 'servants of Martel and stewards of the earth', and  _ Recollections _ calls them 'the base angels of creation; Martel's first and most primal adjutants', although that's not an entirely accurate translation. A great deal of writing has been done on the topic - particularly spirit-worship, which is considered a form of idolatry."

"Urgh," said Lloyd, in general protest.

"I'd wondered about that," I said. "So summoners..." I trailed off. 

Summoning was a 'lost art', according to Sheena and Raine - but could it be lost if it was never really practiced? Mithos still held all eight primary pacts. I'd wondered about Cleo and Sylph - now I was sure it was impossible that anyone but Mithos had commanded the spirits in the last four-thousand years. The spirits would decline any renewals, that was certain - so who had these historical summoners been?

"In the past," said Raine, "summoning has been both a forbidden arte, and also a skill passed down through clergy. I would say that the treatment of the summoning arts is a fine indicator for how tolerant any given civilization has been of 'pagan practices'."

"In Tethe'alla it's pretty much only Mizuho that still remembers it," said Sheena. "There hasn't been a pact made with a major spirit in living memory, but for us it's a skill passed down from Chief to Chief. It's considered a secret technique."

"Wait, so only the successor learns it?" She nodded. "But what if the successor dies before they can teach someone else?" I asked.

Sheena made a face. "It's kind of... complicated. There are lieutenants who learn along with the heir, and - well, I probably shouldn't tell you."

"Man, that sounds so cool," said Lloyd, "I wanna know ancient secrets."

"Who'd tell you?" teased Genis.

"The next chamber contains the altar," said Kratos, interrupting the ensuing scuffle. "Is everyone prepared?"

Colette, who was a bit left out of any conversation that included walking and talking, caught Sheena's hand and spelled out something that made Sheena smile and say, "Y-yeah. I know how to do this," she said, with just a touch of uncertainty. "I'm a little scared, but I'll do my best." Colette smiled, and they held hands a moment longer before separating.

We stepped through the warp.

The altar chamber was nearly deafening, the falling water a constant barrage of sound. Above the altar itself hovered a point of turquoise light - not just a suspended orb, as I remembered, but a kind of glowing fissure in space that disturbed the air into flecks and clouds of glowing blue. It radiated an intense, suffocating mana, cool and sharp and dark.

Everything I learned about magic gave my experience of it greater depth and complexity, like I was some sort of amateur sommelier; I could feel the overwhelming, passive strength of Undine's mana like a wall of insurmountable pressure.

"All right," said Sheena, squaring her shoulders. "Leave it to me."

"You got this," said Lloyd. Colette clapped her hands together, echoing the sentiment.

Sheena climbed the dais, and stood before the altar. 

It only then occurred to me that Luna had appeared to us because Sheena was there - that it wasn't just chance. How did they know she was a summoner? Was there some quality to her magic that only they could sense?

Sheena didn't make any arcane gestures or speak magic words. She stood there, back straight and jaw square, and waited. The platform underfoot began to shake, a subharmonic vibration of the teeth that climbed into a rumbling earthquake. Lloyd and I looked around at each other, bewildered, and Raine clutched one of Genis' hands to her side, eyes fixed on Sheena. 

The blue light flashed; the fissure seemed to spasm with every pulse of blinding blue-white, visible mana arcing from floor to ceiling and caving black shadows out on the marble behind us. The fissure twisted, the nucleus of some massive magical event, and there was a high, ringing note, round and full even at the very edge of hearing. And then there was a last, monumental tremor in the earth, a flash of light, and Undine appeared.

She was tall, blue and bare-chested. Her upper body seemed more real; her skin was shiny and vaguely amphibian, patterned with purple, her stomach and palms paler than the rest of her; she had no legs, but a flowing skirt made of many sheets of falling water, dissolving into white foam and nothingness. She wore armor - tassets and pauldrons in rich, stony green, with a surface like agate, fastened at the waist with a belt of glittering rubies.

Her hair, deep indigo, was dense and straight at the temples, but as it fell became less like hair and more like mist. Her face was long, oval, her green-eyes wide-set and heavy-lidded. Finlike frills protruded from her head where ears might be. 

She was beautiful, alien, and when she spoke her voice was soft, distant and hollowed by echoes.

"You who possess the right of the pact, I am one who is bound to Mithos," she said, peering down at Sheena with a detached curiosity, "What is your name?"

"Mithos?" asked Lloyd, just above a whisper. "Mithos the Hero?"

"Not only was Mithos a swordsman," said Genis, in amazement, "but he could summon, too?"

"Mithos is a common boy's name," said Raine, waving a hand at them for quiet as she stared, transfixed, at Undine. "It's not necessarily Mithos the Hero."

Up on the platform, Sheena continued: "I am Sheena! I seek a pact with Undine."

"As things stand now," said Undine, "I cannot."

Sheena's brittle composure fractured a little. "Wh-why?"

"I am already bound by a pact. I cannot form two pacts at the same time."

"You mean your pact with that Mithos guy?" A hand came up to worry at the collar of her robe. She half-turned to us, and said in a hiss, "What am I supposed to do now? They never said anything about this at the Research Institute!"

"Um, can't you just get them to cancel the old pact?" suggested Lloyd in the same stage whisper.

"How? We don't even have any idea where this Mithos person is!" 

"A Summon Spirit pact requires a vow," volunteered Kratos, a touch too forcefully, "As long as the pact-maker upholds that vow, the pact remains valid."

"That is correct," said Undine, giving him a little knowing smile.

"Luna said that her vow had been broken," said Raine, connecting the dots. "If Undine's vow is broken as well, she may be able to absolve the old pact. Lloyd may be right."

"Is it really that simple?" asked Genis.

"I suppose you could call it simple," said Kratos, "but if the previous pact-maker is still alive and hasn't broken his vow, then there's nothing we can do about it."

"Okay," said Sheena, steeling herself, "I'll give it a shot." She turned around to face the altar. Undine gazed down at her with a kind of indulgent calm; was it strange to be discussed as if she wasn't in the room? Or maybe she expected to be addressed formally as a part of the ritual, and had only acknowledged Kratos because she knew him. "Undine, I am Sheena. I ask that thou annulst thy pact with Mithos, and establish a new pact with me."

"Before I can allow the formation of a new pact," said Undine, "I must test your worthiness as a pact-maker. Draw your weapons."

"What?" startled Lloyd, "We have to fight?"

Undine smiled. "Let it begin."

The sea on either side of the altar walkway rose high into the air, roiling sheets of freezing black water, and closed on us in one thunderous, earth-shaking clap.

I fell hard, the riptide slamming me elbow-first into the stone floor. I struggled up, aftershocks of the first wave tearing my feet out from under me - I disappeared from the water and landed clumsily on one of the half-columns surrounding the altar. 

_ Raine _ .

She was still fighting the current, silver head dragged once, twice, a third time below the surface, white waves pulling her towards the edge. I jumped to her side, nearly fell, seized her around the middle and pulled her to a raised spot near the leftmost side, where there was a low barricade. Colette already had Genis in her arms, ferrying him to relative safety - not that anywhere would be safe for long, if Undine did that again. Kratos and Lloyd had fought their way forward into Undine's radius, but Sheena had been dashed on the stairs and was still recovering.

"Yell if you need help," I said to Raine, as she scraped hair out of her eyes and fumbled with her staff. It was good luck it hadn't been knocked out of her hands - if I'd been holding my weapons at time of impact, I'd have lost them for sure.

Undine threw out another churning, crushing wave, but this time we were ready, and the water broke around our shields - or in Genis case, a sudden stone obelisk. It was still nearly impossible to find firm footing - even a foot of turbulent water was enough to pull you off-balance. Kratos was taking his cues from Genis, studding the walkway with waist-high stones, strong enough to brace against but fragile enough to break on sudden impact.

Another miniature tsunami sent me headlong into one corner of the altar platform - I could hear the crack, but there wasn't any pain - and when I stood again, blood was pouring off of me into the water in a red fog. I couldn't see out of my left eye.

Green-white light engulfed me, and the numbness of shock receded into a dull ache. Raine directed her next healing spell towards Lloyd - a spear of frothy white water cut a long gash up his right arm. 

The wound on my head had closed, but my eye still felt clogged and sticky, and in the brief loss of depth perception I badly judged my next jump. Lloyd accidentally caught me on a backswing, and I hissed in pain - salt water and open wounds didn't go together well. But it wasn't the first ever incident of friendly fire, and it wouldn't be the last, and I fell back, hand dipping into my belt and coming up with two feathered darts.

I'd been doing some reading on poisons. There were a surprising number of poisonous sea creatures in the area - mostly nasty little cephalopods that could paralyze a three-hundred pound man and jellyfish with a sting like lightning. I had long since lost, disposed of or accidentally smashed the mysterious glass phials that had come with me to the House of Salvation way back when, but poison was easy to find when you had to survive in the wild.

Foraging was mostly the process of  _ avoiding _ poisonous plants.

The first dart missed and disappeared into the surf, but the second struck Undine under one arm as she lifted it to defend against Kratos. The Iapyx' feathers were a violent yellow-green - not covert, but easy for me to keep my eye on.

The effect was immediate. Undine's arms lagged suddenly under an invisible weight, her shoulders dropping with the effort of movement, the skin around the dart leeching grey. It didn't last long - within a few seconds Undine reached over with her other arm and wrenched the dart free in a spray of dark ichor, and the feather crumpled in her hand. But the poison persisted a little longer, and gave Lloyd and Sheena a temporary advantage.

Sheena twisted in the air, avoiding another spear of of sea foam, and pulled a snow-white slip of paper out of the air, pasted it right in the middle of Undine's forehead, and leapt back.

Lloyd struck out, the first blow sending hairline fractures across the frozen features of Undine's face, and the second sending up a cloud of crystalline shards as they shattered. A high-pitched ringing sound cut through the roar of the surf, and Sheena was in close range again, punching up.

The air exploded. A wave ripped outwards from Undine, a vicious, sudden wall of water that knocked them backwards. Even Kratos couldn't keep his footing - he slid back, scrambling to find an anchor, and nearby Genis flew into a pillar, his own shield cushioning him at the last minute.

" _ Enough _ ," said Undine, and suddenly the water receded, and the hall was strangely silent. "I am satisfied," she said. 

All at once, the grey, dreary rain dispersed, and was replaced with slabs of yellow-gold sunlight; the calm water shone like jewels, and the roaring of waterfalls became muted and soothing. There was the distant sound of bewildered birdsong, and the gentle whoosh of ocean waves. Undine ascended the altar, water glittering in her wake like a train of sapphires. She turned to us, eyes bright, and smiled.

"Splendid. Now," she said to Sheena, who was just struggling to her feet, "swear your vow. Upon what vow do you form our pact?"

Sheena, bruised and waterlogged, straightened.

"Right now, at this very moment," she said, "there are people who are suffering. I vow to save those people."

In the golden light, in damp silks, Sheena glowed.

"Understood. I pledge my power to you, Sheena!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;o; We're back! Thanks for waiting. Things have been Wild, and this chapter's kind of a mess, but I hope you like it. Thank you to everyone who commented, you are the Best and you fill me with joy and purpose.


	12. Asgard, Lake Umacy

"I can't just summon Undine so you can have a chat with her," argued Sheena.

The rain had disappeared. The night was clear and pleasant, and Genis had made a celebratory meal. It was always a good night when Genis did the cooking; he was by far the most talented at it and really seemed to enjoy it. Tonight's fare was a seafood stew - whitefish, shrimp, chives and kelp suspended in a thin, spicy broth; it was a Mizuhoan recipe that Genis was disappointed not to have all the ingredients for. 

There were sweets, too - a flight of marzipan treats in wax paper, shaped like flowers and flavored with flower water. Sheena had first pick, and Genis got two because Lloyd hated the flavor.

"You summon Corrine so Raine can poke at him," I pouted.

"No, I don't! I summon Corrine because I like having him around, and Raine pokes at him anyway."

That sounded about right. "But we could learn so much!"

"You saw how that battle went," Sheena said, "I'm _borrowing_ her power. I can't bother her every time we have a question." 

Sheena was being very possessive of Undine now that she'd succeeded in making the pact. On one hand, I understood her reluctance - what if Undine decided to recant her part of the bargain? Even if she couldn't break the pact herself, I was fairly certain that Undine could choose to ignore frivolous commands on Sheena's part. But I wasn't being frivolous! I was trying to uncover vital information!

On one hand, it might put us (me) in danger from Kratos - but on the other, why _wouldn't_ I ask? As far as I knew there was no geas keeping Undine from sharing information.

"I'm not asking her what her favorite color is," I said. "Undine's summoner might be the same as Luna's. At the very least, she's seen more of this world than any of us."

"I don't know," said Sheena, "I just... don't want to be seen as if I'm disrespecting her. Maybe if you could write the questions down for me, and I could ask, then it would be a little more appropriate, but..."

"Do we have time for this?" asked Kratos. He didn't seem at all concerned that Undine might blow his cover, which was the only aspect of the whole thing that made me anxious.

"The journey north will take some time," Raine pointed out. "But, Edie, it's ultimately Sheena's decision. She knows more about the disposition of Summon Spirits than we do." 

"Maybe it's okay if Edie just uses all that 'thee' and 'thy' language," proposed Lloyd. "Why did you talk like that to her, anyway?" He asked Sheena.

"It's formal Kharlesian," Sheena said, turning slightly pink.

Colette took one of Lloyd's hands - we waited as she wrote.

"She says, Undine seemed nice. She'd probably want to help us."

Sheena bit her lip. It was hard turning down Colette.

"Okay," Sheena relented, "but I do the talking. I don't want..."

"Me to offend her?" I smiled. Sheena blushed.

"I didn't say that!"

"It's okay," I grinned, "You're the summoner. You know best."

* * *

We made camp early the next day, taking care to settle by a riverbank, in case that made Undine feel more welcome. 

"It's certainly a rare opportunity," said Raine. 

"Argh," said Sheena, nearly as anxious as I was, "what if she's upset? I'm not going to press her if she doesn't want to talk," she said, directed half at me and half at herself, "She's a _nature_ spirit. She's - she's basically a deity. I don't know if it's right to summon her just to... interview her!"

"It's worth a try," I said, as calmly as I was able.

"...Okay. Okay. No one say anything stupid," she warned us.

Sheena stood on the muddy bank, arms held out straight in front of her. Her hands were held flat, perpendicular to her arm, turned inwards so that the fingers of her right hand overlapped her left, and so that the thumb of her left hand overlapped the right. It was the same posture she used to summon Corrine, but the chant - hardly audible over the rushing water - was different. 

We stood a little farther back, between the camp and the river, at what Raine guessed was a respectful distance. 

The summoning chant intensified; water rose from the ground and began to spin in glowing turquoise ley lines around Sheena's ankles, the discharged mana of the spell circle flattening the reeds into damp crop circles. Cattails broke under the momentum, the light climbed, and Sheena spoke: " _Maiden of the Mist, I summon you. Come; Undine!_ "

Undine coalesced in the air before Sheena, hair flying, and settled into reality, beautiful face turned down to regard us.

"Undine," said Sheena, "I call upon you not for your magic, but for your memory. Will you deign to speak to me of the past, lost to my people?"

Undine smiled. 

"I am yours to command, Summoner."

Sheena swallowed. "Undine, why must the worlds vie for mana? Is there no other way?"

Undine's smile faded. "It was not always so. There was a time when no man wanted for Mana. This was the time of the Giant Tree. But that time has passed."

"Wh-what happened to the Giant Tree?"

"War," said Undine, gravely. "The greed of men and elves."

Raine pinched me.

"There _was_ a Tree," she hissed.

"You didn't have to pinch me," I hissed back.

"The tree died?" asked Sheena.

Undine nodded. "Yes. It withered all but for the Great Seed, itself the barest husk of life."

Sheena glanced back at me, expression pained. And then she asked Undine, "The Great Seed? Does that... is it still around? Where - erm, does the Great Seed yet live?"

"Yes," said Undine, "it is suspended between these worlds, tethered by those spirits vowed to Mithos."

I tried hard not to look at Kratos, or even _think_ about him. I was sure that if I glanced at him - visibly suspected him for any time at all - that he'd gut me on principle. Not, of course, that I was the one asking questions - or even the conduit for this information - but I was sure he'd find _some_ way to blame me. But blame me for what? Had he already settled on helping Lloyd? Would he kill me _and_ Sheena?

"Mithos - like, the Hero?" asked Sheena, unable to help herself.

"He was not always called Hero," said Undine. "When he came to me he was but a boy."

There was a moment of astounded silence.

"Wait," said Sheena, "one person made pacts with _all_ the Summon Spirits? But - how did he travel between the worlds?" 

I stared at my knees, heart racing.

"The two worlds were once one," Undine intoned, a deep and bitter sadness in her voice. "It was Mithos who rent them apart."

" _What_?" cried Lloyd.

"Shhh," hushed Raine.

Colette hurried forward with the momentum of someone unable to stop themselves, seized Sheena's hand, and began scrawling into her palm. Sheena could hardly tear her attention away from Undine, but when she spoke again it was to ask Colette's question.

"Why would he do something like that?" Sheena asked, weakly. "Why would he make..." Her voice hitched. "Why would he make a world where so many had to suffer?"

Undine's expression was mournful. 

"Of that, I am not certain."

I exhaled. 

It wasn't reasonable to expect Undine to be privy to all of Mithos' plans, or for her to offer up the information I wanted but couldn't ask for - but I was still disappointed. I wanted to ask about Martel, about the Sword - but I couldn't think of where to start without making myself incredibly suspicious. _More_ suspicious. 

"How?"

Lloyd's face was flush with indignation and energy. 

Raine shushed him again, but it was hard to quiet Lloyd.

"How did he split the world? How is that even possible?"

Undine regarded him.

"It is the power of Origin, the first Spirit of these worlds. He, too, was deceived by Mithos."

Lloyd didn't know what to say to that. Neither did I. If Raine knew who Origin was, she hadn't made any move to fill us in - and so we were at an impasse. 

Sheena looked back at me. I shrugged.

"Thank you, Undine," Sheena said, at last. "You may go."

Undine nodded, and disappeared in a swirl of mist.

There was a heavy, thoughtful silence.

"You were right," Sheena said, turning towards me, "you were right. Someone _made_ the world like this." Her face was screwed up in shock, disgust, and disbelief. I couldn't imagine what she and the others were going through. This wasn't my wild conjecture, or some philosophical treatise - Undine, who was only steps away from godhood, had told them outright. There was more to this world even than they suspected.

"But -" Lloyd started, "that's good, isn't it?" Sheena looked at him, bewildered. "I mean," he continued, "that means we can change it."

"Lloyd," began Raine, but Lloyd interrupted her.

"If a human or elf did this to the world, then we can fix it," he said.

It hit like a meteor. I'd said something like it, once, but this was different; this was Lloyd. Lloyd wasn't stupid - he had an incredible mind that was completely unsuited to academia, a kind of exceptional charisma and clearheadedness that escaped many cleverer people. 

Civilization was built on a foundation of accepted lies, cultural fictions, and acceptable cruelties. The moment that one man enjoyed power over another on the basis of material wealth, there was a reckoning. Men wanted justice - so long as that justice worked out in their favor - and so kings became divine and serfs became the least of people. 

_The world isn't fair_ was the favorite saying of those whose lives had been fairer than most. The lucky celebrated their own hard work, the poor berated themselves as slovenly and mean, and the rich made a world of inconsequential hardships and concerns that would occupy them from cradle to grave. The greatest evil of the civilized person was that they had a vast internal life of trials and tribulations and struggle - and all other people were dumb, thoughtless animals. 

_The world isn't fair_ was the smug mantra of the powerful.

Intelligent people saw the patterns of the world and understood that was the way things were. They were congratulated on their cleverness; an intelligent person could do well and make money and that was the same as being good.

Lloyd was remarkable in that he saw the world as it was, and people as they _could be._ He was kind, and straightforward, and most importantly, had the power to follow through.

That was what mattered, in the end. All the good intentions and kind thoughts in the world weren't enough without strength, conviction, and resources. And Lloyd had, without trying, become the nexus of a knot of incredible power - one that would only grow.

Right now I looked at Colette and Sheena - the Chosen and the last Summoner - but there was Genis, too, a prodigy of prodigies, and Raine, genius of geniuses. His father was one of the Four Seraphim, and he himself was equipped with a uniquely powerful Exsphere.

"Lloyd, think." Kratos' voice cut through the spell. "You're being reckless. If a human or elf _did_ create this world, then what hope do we have of opposing them?"

"We're not powerless," Lloyd argued, "if it's a Summon Spirit, then Sheena can just-"

" _Enough_ ," Kratos said, "I will not see you killed on a fool's errand!"

I was ninety percent sure that Kratos was stirring the pot. He was on our side, more or less - but he believed in strength under pressure, and Lloyd wasn't ready to kill a god, not just yet. 

"But we can't let it go on like this!"

"You think you are the first to feel slighted by the world? _Think_. The order of things won't be changed by righteous indignation alone." Kratos folded his arms.

Colette waved her hands urgently - a plea not to fight. Then she took Lloyd's hand, and wrote.

"When... I'm an... angel, we... can change things."

Her smile was beatific.

"You're... planning to become an angel after all, then?" said Sheena, weakly.

Colette nodded. Lloyd continued to relay her message: "People... here... need help, now."

Sheena looked down at her feet, expression miserable. "You shouldn't have to suffer like this. No one should have to."

Colette crossed to her and pulled her into a hug. Sheena's hands came up to grip the back of Colette's jacket, and I looked away. It was hard to see young people struggling with such earth-shakingly awful decisions. I wanted to speak up - to say, no, let's wait and see what Cruxis says, hold Colette's transformation hostage, protect her - but that wasn't just an insult to Colette and her faith, it was a middle finger to all of Sylvarant.

Sylvarant's decay wasn't abstract. 

I'd seen people starving, I'd seen fields of blighted crops - we were lucky. People were always happy to give wealthy pilgrims a little extra, find a room for us, dig out that bit of firewood or those last few candles - anything that might chance some charity down the road. But most people weren't merchants or pilgrims or scholars - they were farmers or service workers or struggling parents.

If something _could_ be done for Sylvarant, I couldn't just say no.

I couldn't say, _actually_ , it's the symptom of a bigger systemic problem, so give up on your concrete solution for some pie-in-the-sky dream - for _maybe_ a better world.

I had to be like everyone else.

I had to hope.

 _Fuck_.

* * *

We didn't stop off in Palmacosta - that would have been a trek. Instead, we made directly for Asgard again. I should have been tired of the scenery, but spring had come on in full blossom, transforming joyless stretches of grassland into fields of vibrant wildflowers and withered forests into glimmering stretches of bright green and yellow. The sky was a perfect blue, and ribbons of cloud chased across the horizon.

* * *

"Sheena, when _is_ your birthday?"

"Oh, uh, July 3rd," she said, "Why?"

It was late April - that put at least two full months between then and now. Would we be in Tethe'alla then? Would we even be alive? 

"My records," I smiled. "Your present, obviously. I need to keep an eye out in Asgard. I don't think Genis liked my handicrafts much."

"You've already given me a present," said Sheena, frowning.

"What? I haven't," I said, bemused.

"The-" Sheena flushed. "The washtub."

"Oh!" I said, delighted that she remembered. "You still have that?" She nodded. "Well, that doesn't count, that was just, y'know, a peace offering."

"Why'd you try to talk to me, anyway?" she asked, gaze dropping to a point low on the horizon. "I could've killed you."

"You seemed nice," I said.

She gawked at me. "You're not serious."

I shrugged.

"I swear," she said, "none of you have any sense of self-preservation."

"I'm a good judge of character," I lied, and then changed the subject. "What's Corrine's birthday, by the way?"

Sheena grinned. "January 7th! He's just over two years old."

"What? Really?" I knew he was an artificial Summon Spirit, but - "But he can read and write and stuff!"

Sheena shook her head. "He's not like a normal animal. I don't get all the specifics, but the way I understand it, he's kind of _always_ existed, he just wasn't Corrine until he had a body and a name."

I blinked. "Oh! So it's a bit like... water taking the form of a vessel? No, that's not right. But you know what I mean."

Sheena nodded. "We really don't understand that much about Summon Spirits. Or monsters, which are actually pretty similar. The place Corrine was born is completely devoted to studying the foundations of magic, and stuff. I got the feeling that everyone there was a little frustrated that they had to rely on an outsider, but I was the only Summoner, so..." She shrugged. "You would probably love the place." She paused. "Er, or not."

"Why not?"

Sheena was contemplating her feet again. "Well... in Tethe'alla, half-elves are treated pretty badly. Places like the Elemental Research Lab... well, they're all staffed by half-elves, but they don't really get a choice whether they want to work there or not."

"Ah."

"A lot of the researchers are really passionate," Sheena hurried to say, "and I think a lot of them really like their jobs!"

"I'm sure they do," I said mildly. "Hey, where does Corrine go when he's not out and about?"

Sheena smiled, visibly relieved. "It's funny you mention that - you know how the Summon Spirits are 'sleeping' in the declining world? Well, Corrine says that when he's not here, it's like he's dreaming." Sheena began to elaborate on a concept called _suffuse semiconscious elementary particles_ \- which sounded vaguely animist - while my mind wandered to the basement labs of Sybak and Meltokio. 

I'd bet my buttons that half-elves weren't allowed to teach or publish papers. It was so much like the human computers - the invisible minorities somehow too simple to lecture, but clever enough to do the lion's share of the work. It was really incredible how universities so often pretended to be divorced from petty commerce, when it was really one of the greatest institutions of that wretched system. 

I was going to be _insufferable_ if we ever went to Tethe'alla.

* * *

The question became 'what do I do about Colette'?

If she went to the Tower and completed the ritual, things _might_ work out the way they did in the game - Colette would be taken to Tethe'alla, and Lloyd would make her a key crest - and then the Crystal would try to colonize her body. Was that the result of Lloyd's crest, or a genetic predisposition? What would happen if Colette _didn't_ complete the ritual? Could she be recovered from this state in her toxicosis, or would Lloyd's crest only work on a fully realized Cruxis Crystal?

It all would have been so much easier if I had anyone to talk to.

It frightened me, not knowing what would happen at the Tower. The rest of us would always move to protect Colette, but what about Kratos?

I was ninety percent sure he was on our side in the long run, but did he consider Colette an acceptable casualty of progress? Probably. I was too used to him as put-upon mentor - I was too used to him around Lloyd. He _cared_ about Lloyd, and he'd try to keep him alive, and probably Sheena - but the rest of us? I wasn't sure.

Kratos was a secretive, distrustful bastard, and I wouldn't put it past him to take Colette by force if the rest of us tried to halt the journey. 

Would he be able to?

It was hard to guess, because real life didn't scale difficulty. Bandits near Triet were much the same as the bandits near Asgard; humans could only do so much to get a leg up in combat, and mostly it came down to numbers and equipment. Our Exspheres made us faster, stronger, and more resilient, but our bodies were still just flesh and bone. But Kratos wasn't human - he was an angel, and that was bound to be more like a monster than a person.

The basilisk venom had worked on Undine - but only kinda. I understood why - she was only partly real. She didn't have a circulatory system and she didn't really even have flesh or muscles or bones. But it had slowed her down.

And then there was the matter of Yggdrasill. He _wouldn't_ pull his punches. 

In the game, the Renegades came to the rescue. That was good - they had stakes in Lloyd _and_ Colette. I'd just have to count on that.

* * *

"What are you doing?"

I smiled. "Genis! I could use your advice, actually."

Genis shrugged. "Okay. What _are_ you doing?"

"I'm _trying_ ," I said, "to imbue elemental magic into one of my daggers. Like, permanently. But I can't get it to work," I complained. My books - all borrowed from Raine or Genis - mentioned enchantment in passing, but not the specifics. I knew that the mana had to be anchored in some way, but that hadn't worked, either - or maybe my etching was just that lousy. Magic had its own symbolic language, and I thought, if I wrote out the right symbols...

I _could_ stretch my magic out over a weapon, but that so much extra thinking, like trying to recite equations in the middle of a bar brawl. I wasn't so great at that.

"Is that what you're using?" Genis asked. "Of course that won't work. You can't just enchant any item."

I frowned. "You can't?"

"No way! You have to do it during the crafting. I hate to say it, but Lloyd probably knows more about it than me." he sighed, "Really complex enchantments have more to do with the way something is made than any spell you put onto it. Artificing is pretty much it's own branch of magic. Dwarves are famous for it. You'd probably have to get it commissioned or something."

My shoulders slumped. "Aaagh. Well, at least I know now." It would have been nice to know an hour ago, but that was that. I tossed the dagger and makeshift chisel - the end off a high-quality crossbow bolt - to one side and gave Genis a lopsided smile. "Well, that's okay." I was never going to be any kind of craftsperson, so it was better not to worry about it. "What are _you_ doing?"

Genis shrugged again. "Lloyd's doing sword stuff, and we don't have homework tonight. I wondered if you wanted to do some practice?"

I grinned. "Sure! I've missed our lessons. What is it you wanna practice?"

"Well," he said, "I was thinking, it'd probably be useful if you could make more stuff or people invisible, right? Or make something invisible without touching it?"

"Yeah," I agreed, "It really would. It's tiring to do anything too big, though. I even have trouble sometimes if I'm wearing my full kit and sleeping roll. It's too much area."

Genis nodded. "Can you make _just_ other stuff invisible, not yourself?"

"I've... never tried," I admitted, and picked up the dagger again, tossing it up in contemplation. It was not one of my original armory - somewhere in-between the long daggers I used normally and the short throwing knives. There was probably a word for every length and kind of dagger, or guidelines for what separated a dagger from a knife, but I didn't know them and didn't care to learn. 

I caught it out of the air, pommel aiming upwards, and concentrated.

The dagger disappeared.

"You did it!" cried Genis. 

"Er," I said, "Did I?" I couldn't _feel_ it. I opened and closed my hand - and felt nothing but air. It had all happened too fast. "Wait. Shit, did I drop it? Careful where you step." I swept the toe of my boot cautiously through the short turf, feeling for the bulk of the pommel or the weight of the blade - but there was nothing. "Wait, what?" I said, dropping into a crouch and padding my hands over the earth.

"What happened?" asked Genis, bemused.

"I dunno! I was thinking about making it go away, and it just kind of... Argh. Hey, careful, you could step on it."

"I thought you couldn't make things stay invisible?" said Genis, frowning.

"I thought I couldn't," I agreed. "It's a concentration thing. Maybe I just did _really_ good that time." I widened my search radius a little, growing frustrated. I _hated_ losing things. I did it way too often. It was easier to keep my stuff together when it all went in one backpack, but I had a special talent for putting things down and never picking them up again. "What the hell."

Genis was quiet for a minute.

"You know, your magic's pretty weird."

"Thanks," I said, sighing.

"What if you concentrate on getting it back?"

"It's not like a switch. Usually I just stop thinking about it and it disappears. Er, I reappear. You know what I mean." I'd be a lot better at magic if it was a matter of toggling it on and off, but life couldn't be that easy.

"Just try!" Genis insisted. He had that light in his eyes that I sometimes saw from Raine - he'd worked something out, and he just wasn't telling me. 

I shrugged. "If his highness insists."

Genis rolled his eyes.

I waved a hand, affecting a mystic air. "And now... return!"

Magic had so much to do with intent. Turning _myself_ invisible was nearly as instinctual to me as teleportation - it was a fear response, but one I'd learned to control. Once _I_ was invisible, I couldn't help but think about it like a cloak or a bubble; it was a membrane I could stretch and shape, but it was contiguous, and anchored on me. Starting from an object was different. I'd thought about making it _disappear_.

I flinched back. The dagger, falling blade-first, narrowly missed the tip of my boot. 

There had been no sound or light - just nothing, and then something.

" _Ha!_ " said Genis, jumping up and down. "I knew it!"

"Knew _what?_ " I asked, bewildered, toeing the handle in the dirt. 

"Well," said Genis, "you said you go somewhere else when you teleport, right? I bet it went there! You just had to get it back."

I looked down. "Sounds made up," I said, "but I'll give it another go."

I held up the dagger - and then I was holding nothing but air. This time, when I brought it back, I was ready. I caught it by the pommel.

Genis whooped. "See? I was right!"

"It's pretty neat," I agreed, examining the blade as if for damage, and then repeating the trick for good measure, "but it's not really useful, is it?"

"You could carry stuff." Genis brightened. "We could carry way more food."

"Hold up," I said, "I don't even know how it works. It could be that it can only reappear in the place I 'put it away', or whatever." I frowned. Tethe'alla had those 'wing packs', didn't they? Those were basically bags of holding. But that was a vessel - they weren't just chucking objects into the void and hoping to get them back. I didn't even know what the in-between space _was_. "Argh. Why is magic so complicated?"

"What did you expect? It's magic!" insisted Genis. "Raine's been studying healing magic her whole life and even she doesn't understand everything about it."

I sighed. 

"I wanted a cool magic dagger," I complained. A shadow one! Just for killing angels! It had been such a beautiful dream. I wished, not for the first time, that my magic had come with a manual. It was a constant game of Calvinball. A cleverer person might have worked out all the mechanics right now, but I _wasn't_ that person, and I could only pester Raine so many hours of the day. This was just one more thing to figure out - and for what? Weapons smuggling? Advanced inventory management?

Genis tried to kick me in the shins, but I danced out of the way.

"Your attitude's almost as bad as Lloyd's!" Genis accused. 

* * *

Kratos was frowning at me, arms crossed.

I looked around. "What'd I do?"

He shook his head. "You should join Lloyd and I tonight. You may need to wield heavier blades in future, and it would behoove you to practice with a shield."

I raised my eyebrows. "Can I ask why?"

Kratos sniffed. "It's better to be competent with a range of weapons. You may not always have access to those you prefer, and swords are by far the most common. You can borrow one of mine."

I had planned on an early evening - I was bored of my magic lessons and I had nasty blisters on my left hand from mishandling poisons (I couldn't heal them, and Raine was big on teachable moments). But Kratos was hard to say no to, especially when he was in a _mood_ . It was like arguing with some wizened grandmother; you had the sense you could go on until one of you died, and it wasn't going to be _her_. 

" _Fine_ , consider me hooved. I'll be there." I did a poor impression of a horse.

Kratos sighed.

At least we'd _both_ suffer.

* * *

"Edie, I need your help with something."

Raine stood over a collection of parcels that I only belatedly recognized as the store of cured meat.

"Okay."

"I was hoping you'd taste test something for me."

"Oh no."

Raine crossed her arms and gave me a look. "Excuse me?"

Raine would never consider herself a bad cook, no matter how many times Lloyd or Genis told her so. She was just - ahead of her time. Simpler minds couldn't understand the value of experimentation! It was one of her few real flaws, which only made it more endearing. Genis had warned me against encouraging her, but my curiosity had gotten the better of me - and now...

"Oh, no problem," I said virtuously. "What is it?"

"I've been experimenting with preserved foods," she said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I've done a few batches. The science behind it is quite simple; it's just a matter of water content. I've read about curing, in particular - salt and sugar - and given our occasional excess of game or wild fruits, I thought I might give it a try." She knelt down, unlaced one of the twine-wrapped packages, and handed me two little paper bags. "That one is apricot. The other is rabbit. Tell me what you think."

I plucked out a piece of apricot.

It looked like perfectly normal candied apricot. I inspected it in amazement.

"Go on," urged Raine.

I took an optimistic bite, chewed once, and swallowed.

"Raine," I said, trying to scrape off the top of my tongue with my front teeth, "did you cure those in salt?"

"That's what I said," Raine frowned. "Don't you like it?"

"It's... Not bad, actually," I admitted, "I just wasn't expecting _salt_ . And the other one..." I hesitantly reached into the other bag. It _looked_ like jerky. "This one is cured in sugar?" Raine nodded, smiling. I shrugged, and gave it a go. Now that I was _expecting_ sweet-and-savory, it... well, it wasn't _great_ , but it wasn't terrible. It tasted a little bit like sweet chicken - and chicken and waffles were a thing. 

"What do you think?" Raine asked, just this side of anxious.

"It's good," I said, after a moment. I tried the apricot again. That _was_ good, especially if I knocked off a little bit of the salt. 

Raine beamed. "Really?" I nodded. "Excellent," she said. "Now, can you try this? Genis mentioned something about maturing cheeses, and I read this fascinating dissertation about a particular style that used to be popular in the Lake Sinoa area. Have you ever eaten maggots before?"

* * *

"Straighten your back. You'll get knocked over," Kratos said, cracking the flat of his blade sharply against the side of my right leg. I stumbled, but didn't fall. Kratos usually used a one-handed short-sword, but he'd picked up a longsword off a merchant at the House of Salvation. We were only a day or so south of Hakonesia, and he'd only gotten more intense about the swordfighting thing. 

"It's heavy as shit," I said, readjusting myself. "I can barely move."

"Language," he said, absently, "Yes, it's heavier. What of it?"

He launched into another exchange. I parried, but it was clumsy - the damn thing was just too _slow_. It wasn't even a matter of strength; I could carry it easily enough. It was that the sword's weight turned every movement into a battle with inertia; I was accustomed to quick, light movements, but now I could hardly maneuver. On one hand, I was pleased Kratos had asked - he wouldn't kill me after wasting so much time on me, would he? But on the other hand - I had other, more interesting problems to deal with, and sword-fighting was boring and hard.

"Pay attention," Kratos snapped, catching me across the knuckles. I didn't drop the sword, but it was a near thing.

"Why are you teaching me?" I asked, pushing forward in an attempt to catch him off guard. It didn't work.

"As I said," Kratos gave a shove, and I struggled to find my feet, "you may find it useful to master more than one weapon. Your inexperience puts you at a disadvantage."

That rung a bell. Hadn't he said once that I was _suspiciously_ experienced?

"Why not Raine? She's no good in close quarters. Ow." He jabbed my shoulder. 

"If Professor Sage is on the front lines, then you've lost already. Her talents will never be as a frontline fighter."

"Sheena, then. She's young. Lots of potential."

Kratos snorted. "Miss Fujibayashi is proficient in magic, summoning and bare-handed fighting."

I huffed a breath. "You're a suspicious bastard, you know that?"

I was going for funny, but Kratos gave me a hard look and nearly cut my legs out from under me. "Like recognizes like."

I laughed. "That's true." This was probably the most casually I'd ever spoken with Kratos, anyway. "I might be proficient in magic! One day!"

"One day," Kratos agreed, "but presently you're better suited to melee. _Straighten your back._ "

"Kratos, what are you gonna do when all this is over?" I asked, forgetting my good posture almost as once as I tried to part him from his head. The swords were blunt, and I 'lacked follow-through', but it'd still _hurt_. 

"Continue to work, I hope," he said.

"How much is Colette's family paying you, anyway?"

"I believe it's rude to discuss income."

"You should take it easy for a while," I continued. I was getting tired. My elbows were going to be sore tomorrow unless I could convince Kratos or Raine to have a go at them. I found that while my healing _worked_ , in the most technical sense, it didn't do much for muscle pain or lingering aches. That was all too subtle for me. "Did Lloyd tell you about his world tour? He's a gonna be a regular boat boy."

Kratos made a face. "Yes, he's told me about his... ambitions."

"You should go with him. He'd like that."

Kratos snorted. "Yes, I'm sure I'd be a cheering presence."

"I'm just saying, you could use it."

I'd always hated that ending; Kratos peacing out to space and leaving Lloyd to handle things on Aselia. I vaguely remembered something about Derris Kharlan and big picture stuff, but couldn't that wait? He had an eternity to mope among the stars. Lloyd was here _now_ . He could have stuck around. He _should_ have stuck around. You didn't stop having a relationship with your kids just because they were adults!

I might have been taking it a little personally.

"You're getting sloppy," Kratos sighed. "We'll stop here for today."

I let out a sound of relief. "Thank god, my arms were going to fall off."

"Would that they did," said Kratos.

"Ahh, fuck off."

"Language."

* * *

Colette was writing something. It wouldn't have been notable, except she startled and clapped the notebook shut when I came within ten yards. If she could have blushed, she'd have been blushing - she couldn't have been more obviously writing something _secret_. I didn't like to interrupt her, but even Colette would be in danger this far away from the others.

"Hey," I said, picking my way through the underbrush. "It's going to be dark soon. You should come back to camp."

Colette nodded, and then paused. She held out a hand in a gesture now universally understood as an invitation to speak.

I gave her my hand. 

_Did you see what I was writing?_

"No," I chuckled, "my eyesight isn't that good. You don't have to worry."

 _It's -_ this she crossed out, shaking her head. _I want to tell you. When I'm an angel, I won't remember, so I wrote it down._

My heart sank. I'd been hoping for - what, love poetry for Lloyd or Sheena? Another story about dogs? "You're writing a memoir," I said, softly. She nodded. I gnawed at my lower lip for a moment. "Do you want help?"

Colette paused, then shook her head. 

_I was hoping you'd keep it secret until after. Professor Sage was saying that should be a_ \- there was a moment as she worked out the spelling, _\- contemporary account of the Journey. It's almost done_ , she continued. _I'm sure I got some of the words wrong, but you could look over it after I'm gone._

Her hand froze for a moment, as if struggling to remember if I was in on the secret or not. I squeezed her shoulder with my free hand - then remembered she couldn't feel it, and gave her a soft kind of smile. "It's okay. I know already." I exhaled hard, trying to keep myself steady. We were about the same height, but she was too small, still practically adolescent. There was that strange, sweet smell again, and something almost like formaldehyde. 

_I'm really glad you came along_.

"Me too," I said. 

It was melancholy, but not entirely tragic. It would be hard, if she became that shell - not just because I'd miss her, but because it'd just be me and Raine there to be adults about it. I was trying to do my grief preemptively, so that it wouldn't be so bad when the time came. But right now she was too alive for me to really mourn; as full of life and joy and love as she'd ever been. We just had the bad luck of catching each other at sad moments.

"Hey," I said, "how do you feel about another story? If you're not bored of them already."

Colette brightened, and she nodded. We made our way back towards camp, Colette scrawling questions on my arm.

"Sure," I agreed, "I forget, have we met Mr. Badger yet?" 

* * *

"So Sylph _makes_ wind?"

We were huddled in the shelter of the trees. It was still cold on this side of the peak, but that might have been the wind.

Genis snickered.

"Shush," Raine scolded. "Not exactly. You could think of the Spirits as an embodiment of a natural phenomena. Our understanding of Summon Spirits is limited, of course, but I'd hypothesize that they act as a kind of icon for the element they represent. Do you remember the rituals described in the Mausoleum?"

Lloyd, who hadn't been listening, made a noncommittal sound.

"It described the process of reaffirming a relationship between the people, their clergy and their god. You might think of the Summon Spirits as a similar point of contact between mortals and the natural world. I believe that's why so many of them are supposed to appear humanoid," she continued. "They take human form because it's their role to act as a mediator between man and nature. It's only a hypothesis, of course."

"I'm sorry I asked," muttered Lloyd.

"I bet my friends at the Elemental Research Laboratory would love to talk to you," Sheena told Raine, "you've got nothing like the resources in Sybak and you're still way smarter than anyone I've met in Tethe'alla." 

"That's... a high compliment," said Raine, after a moment.

"Hey," said Lloyd, coming back around to the topic, "if Summon Spirits are supposed to represent something, what's Corrine the spirit of?"

"Hey, that's actually a good question," congratulated Genis. Lloyd tried to kick him.

"Er, I don't think he's the spirit of anything," Sheena said. 

Colette reached over to take Sheena's hand.

"Colette says he's the - " Sheena blushed. "The Spirit of Friendship. Gah, that's too corny!"

"I like it," said Genis. 

"I wonder," said Raine, "if Corrine's powers might change if given a new title... an interesting look into linguistic relativity and its role in magic."

"Can't he be the spirit of something cool?" whined Lloyd. "Like... Fire?"

"Lloyd, that's Ifreet," scolded Raine.

"Oh. Right," said Lloyd.

"The Spirit of Very Small Fires," I suggested.

Genis grinned. "The Spirit of Little Bells."

Raine had a far-away look in her eyes. "The Spirit of Rare Artifact Recovery..."

"Ugh, I preferred Friendship," said Sheena. 

"If I were a Summon Spirit," said Lloyd, "I'd wanna be the Spirit of Swords or something. That'd be cool!"

"That suits Kratos a little more than it does you," said Genis. 

"Summon Spirit of Suspenders," I said.

"Summon Spirit of Stupidity," suggested Genis.

This time, Lloyd _did_ kick him. 

* * *

Asgard had erupted into bloom.

The mountainside was a carpet of emerald grass dusted with red, gold, violet and white, wildflowers of every color gathering like banked clouds on the high heath. The buildings were festooned with ribbons and wreaths of yarrow, lavender and golden amaranth. There were garlands of sweet wormwood and corkscrew willow shot through with pale roses and golden dandelions, lupins hung from doorways and bunting laced about the fences.

The streets were clogged with people and livestock; goats and sheep brushed and washed and bedecked with bells and bows, pilgrims in their Sunday best and the locals in pale frocks and shepherding costume. 

"What's going on?" I asked, bewildered.

"It's May Day tomorrow," said Raine, the ghost of a smile passing over her face. "They have a weeklong celebration is Asgard, I've been told. It's a tremendous draw for tourists."

"A spring festival?" Sheena suggested. "We have something like this in Mizuho."

"It's really fun," said Genis, smiling. "There's food and games and stuff."

"Iselia's version isn't very traditional," Raine told us, "the Church has never been fond of more secular festivals, but it's still considered a Holy Day. The May Day celebrated in the east is much more concerned with fertility and livestock. I expect there will be bonfires tonight - not in the town, of course, but it's widely believed that -" she paused. "Well, young couples often court or marry during the festival, for good fortune."

"In the area of blessed union?" I suggested.

Raine smiled. "You could say that."

"Can we stay for the festival?" asked Lloyd, eager. "It's not like we'll get another chance!"

Raine looked at Colette, who in turn looked at Kratos.

"If you like," sighed Kratos.

Colette clapped her hands.

The trouble was in finding somewhere to stay. All three of Asgard's inns were booked to capacity! Kratos floated the idea of making camp outside city limits, but Lloyd complained and Raine had one last option to pursue: crashing at Aisha's. 

"Of course," said Linar, flushing, "you're welcome to stay!"

"It's not your house," scolded Harley. He was between jobs, he told me, but come summer he would be busy picking. "You don't get to decide."

"Please, stay!" said Aisha, "you're always welcome. It isn't much, but..."

"It's better than sleeping outside," insisted Lloyd. Genis pinched him.

"We'll pay you for your trouble," Raine promised.

"Absolutely not," Aisha said, "it's no trouble!"

They went on in polite argument for another thirty minutes while the others unburdened themselves and began to wind down. It wasn't a very large house, but there was floor space and a hearth, which put it on a level with many of our inn stays. The children, reluctantly escorted by Kratos, went to explore the festival - Genis had spotted a petting zoo - and I caught up with Harley and Aisha while Raine and Linar discussed some bit of esoterica.

"How have you been? I was sad not to see you back in... March?" I sighed. "Time flies."

Harley snorted. "Don't I know it. The worst of it is we might have been able to see you, but Linar forgot to mention it until days after you'd gone."

"He's a little absent-minded," Aisha sighed.

Harley mumbled something that made Aisha elbow him.

"Anyway," he said, rubbing his side, "are you sticking around for tomorrow? The day of's always the best. There's loads of free food and drink and dancing."

"I think so," I smiled, "Kratos tries to keep us on schedule but he's only one man."

"He's very good-looking," said Aisha, conspiratorially. "He's not married, is he?" She glanced between Raine and I as the most likely candidates. I waved a hand, vaguely repulsed at the implication.

"No, no, nothing like that."

"I hope he joins in the dancing," Aisha smiled, "it's always fun, and there's always lots of new people to meet."

"I genuinely can't imagine him dancing," I said. "Or I don't want to."

"Are you going to join in?" she asked. "It really is a good time."

"Last year Aisha was May Queen," Harley told me, amused. "They gave her a crown of flowers and everything."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," sniffed Aisha, all faux-offense.

"I love dancing," I agreed, "but I haven't got any clothes for festivals."

"Oh, that's fine," said Aisha, "plenty of people come in their usual clothes. But I get lots of custom off May Day dresses. I might even have one you could wear, if you don't mind wearing hand-me-downs. You're a bit shorter than me," she observed, "but they'd probably fit."

I shook my head. "Thanks for the offer, but I think anything less than full kit makes me nervous these days."

"You guys are like walking armories," said Harley. "You and that Kratos guy especially."

"Some people hoard books," I shrugged. "Anyway, what have I missed? Is the council guy still giving you trouble?"

Aisha gave a great, gusting sigh of exasperation and launched into a story about what had happened with the stone dais in our absence - Linar had been petitioning to study it again, and the city council had lost their minds. And then there was the matter of the May Fair planning, which hadn't gone at all smoothly. There had been blows exchanged over stall placement and an argument about permits that had nearly lead to arson, and someone had stolen someone else's stock of colored paper for bunting.

It was all very silly and bureaucratic, but the minutiae of small-town politics and petty gossip was better than any television show. Aisha seemed to know every woman in the city, and so there was lots of dirt that needed dishing.

Harley wasn't as well connected, but he was full of ridiculous impersonations and blistering critiques of the busybodies and pompous well-to-do folk from uptown. 

"You'd think they'd worry about something that mattered," he snorted, "but instead it's a month-long debate about what color ribbons they ought to put on the sheep!"

"Hey, I'm sure that's really important to _someone_ ," I laughed. "Festivals aren't supposed to be _fun_."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, no kidding."

"It's really all because of the shepherd dance thing," sighed Aisha, "once that came up they just started arguing about _everything!_ "

"Shepherd dance thing?" I asked.

Harley groaned. 

"It's part of the ceremony," Aisha explained, "all the girls who are up for May Queen do a traditional dance with ribbons and crooks. Shepherd's crooks, you know. One of the girls this year is a half-elf, and a lot of stupid people are upset about it, but there's nothing in the rules against her taking part. And she's very pretty," she added, as if this was the real heart of the matter.

"Myrna," nodded Harley. "She's a bit annoying, but she's not bad or anything. Good on her for dancing anyway."

"You know her?" I asked.

"She's one of my friends' nieces. Her dad's human, but he's a pretty decent guy. He spoils her rotten. She probably won't win," he continued, "but it's good she's taking part. People like her."

"How old are the dancers?" I wondered.

"Oh, you've got to be eighteen," said Aisha. "It's a big part of the festival, and they practice a lot."

"Wait, then you're nineteen?" Aisha nodded. "How old is Linar?"

"Twenty-five," she said, "why?"

"But you practically support him!"

Aisha laughed. "I've been doing that since I was young. I inherited a lot of my mother's clients when she passed, so there was always work to do."

I shook my head. "Geez. That's amazing."

"Not really," said Harley. Aisha elbowed him again.

"Don't listen to Harley," sniffed Aisha, "he's a layabout."

"If he's a layabout, then I'm dead in a grave."

* * *

"Dragons?"

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah! There's a guy doing dragon tours at Hima! I bet we could get him to take us right to the Tower of Salvation. We wouldn't even have to get on a boat!"

"That would certainly be faster," said Raine, transparently eager to do anything but travel by sea. "And it would give us the opportunity to stop in Luin. What do you think, Colette?"

Colette smiled, writing out a message on Lloyd's hand.

"Colette says she'd like that!" Lloyd grinned.

"How'd you find out about this?" I asked, bemused and a little concerned. 

"There was a booth near the petting zoo with _dragons!_ " said Genis, hopping up and down in place. "It was so cool!"

"I've never ridden a dragon before," said Sheena, "but the ones there were pretty docile."

"Kratos?" asked Raine.

Kratos gave a noncommittal grunt. 

"Then it's to Umacy, then Luin... then Hima?" I summarized. "At least it's a more direct path." Our previous plan involved going all the way south again to Palmacosta and trying to find a boat north to the Tower. It somewhat spoiled the argument for contracting Undine, but I didn't mind at all. If anything upset me, it was the idea of the story reasserting itself; was there some unavoidable cosmic destiny here that I wasn't seeing? I didn't like that idea at all.

"We'll leave the day after tomorrow," Raine decided. "We should do our resupplying tonight; there may not be much in Luin."

"Awww, can't we do it tomorrow?" complained Lloyd.

"Tomorrow's a holiday," Sheena pointed out. "Stuff might not be open for normal business."

"Let's get going, then," I sighed. 

* * *

May Day dawned bright and splendid. 

"May! Day! May! Day!" chanted Lloyd.

"Please, Lloyd," said Raine, "It's practically dawn."

"Come on," Lloyd urged Genis, "we can see if that pancake booth is open!"

"Is it okay if we go?" Genis asked Raine, face screwed up in pleading.

"Yes, fine," Raine sighed, "stick together and don't get into trouble."

"Yes!" 

The boys and Colette were out the door. Sheena rolled over on the floor, shielding her eyes. "How do they have so much energy?" she wondered. "They complained so much about being tired last night and then barely slept at all."

"They _are_ children," sighed Raine. "I'd like a little more sleep."

I propped myself up on one elbow, frowning. "Where's Kratos?"

Sheena groaned. "I dunno."

"I'm sure he can look after himself," Raine said, voice muffled in blankets.

We were roused again by Aisha, Harley and Linar stumbling downstairs in a kind of groggy haze behind her. 

"You look amazing," gasped Sheena, gazing enviously at Aisha. She wore a diaphanous white dress bedecked with embroidered flowers at the collar and cuffs. Her hair was half-up, half-down, held in place with a large wooden barrette in the shape of a rose. Her dark hair and fair complexion gave her the look of a forest fairy. 

While not as exquisitely dressed, the boys, too, wore nice linen shirts in off-white, with decorative buttons. Harley wore his hair in a side-swept braid today, and Linar wore a kind of paisley cravat. 

"Thank you," gushed Aisha, turning in place. "Are you sure you don't want to borrow something?"

Sheena was much curvier than Aisha, and shook her head in slight embarrassment. "No, that's okay."

"I suppose we should find the children," sighed Raine.

"I want pancakes," I said, "didn't they say something about pancakes?"

We found the kids not far from the main square, perched on a half-wall and watching a puppet show with rapt attention. The little window-box of the miniature theater was thronged with children of all ages, most seated on the ground, some on their parents' laps or shoulders. The show was so thickly attended, in fact, that the action was entirely obscured until we were right up near the others.

"Is that supposed to be you guys?" asked Sheena, stifling a laugh.

"Oh, dear," said Raine.

It wasn't a good likeness, but I could see what they were going for. There were only four puppets on stage - no doubt connected to two human performers - but the three depicting people were very recognizable in red, white and orange. The fourth puppet - the Calamity, I supposed - resembled a dragon more than a demon. I watched, delighted, as the battle progressed. Someone behind the scenes was doing sound effects. The figures waved miniature weapons, professed their heroic virtue - and the Lloyd puppet was tragically devoured.

"What? Hey!" Lloyd protested, "that never happened!"

The Lloyd puppet was tossed aside. For a moment, the battle seemed to be going poorly, and then - Lloyd grumbled. The new puppet, clad in violent purple, struck down the Calamity to enormous applause. 

The play concluded in a romantic and well-received reunion between the Kratos and Raine puppets, and a segue into an entirely different show about a goatherd.

Genis and Lloyd were in stitches.

"You can't expect these things to be accurate," Raine snapped. "Stories are often warped in the retelling."

" _Oh, sir Knight,_ " crooned Lloyd, imitating her puppet's grating falsetto, " _how brave you were! How bold your blade! How resolute your-_ owww!"

"That was pretty funny, actually," grinned Sheena. "I guess it didn't actually bite Lloyd's head off."

"Unfortunately," muttered Raine.

"Hey, let's go see the dragons!" insisted Genis, tugging on Raine's elbow. "They're really cool."

I lagged behind the group, a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of people. Music came from a dozen sources, groups and small stages and buskers, and conversations drifted past me, so loud as to be almost tangible. Even Palmacosta hadn't been so crowded, but then, that hadn't been a feast day. I drifted from booth to booth, distracted by a trinket here or a tsotchke there, a bubble on a sea of activity.

I bought Sheena a little snap-closure coin purse from a booth crammed with cloth goods and little handbags and pouches. It was pale lavender, with a brass closure, and nearly matched her robe, although I couldn't be sure without the thing itself for reference. There was also a display two stalls over with rows of tiny soapstone animals, but I couldn't find a fox, and nothing else would do.

Then I saw a flash of dark purple higher up the mountainside, away from the festivities, and went to find Kratos.

"Hey," I said, giving Noishe a pat on the rump as I went to sit down. "Having fun?"

"...I came here once, years ago," he said, with a suddenness that seemed to surprise him. "With my wife."

It was good I was already seated.

"Yeah?"

Kratos nodded. "She loved May Day."

I smiled. "Did she dress for the occasion?"

"Yes," he said, "she did. She made it herself."

"Was she a good seamstress?"

Kratos snorted. "Not at all. But she was beautiful even in rags."

"People like that amaze me." I had an ill-repressed memory of my ex telling me how it would take a team of stylists to get me camera-ready, and even then it'd be a close thing. I envied naturally beautiful people. I imagined Anna as the most exquisite sort of natural beauty - the sort of person whose smile was just right for their face. "Did you dance? I have a hard time imagining you dancing."

"I did," he said, "reluctantly."

"She must have been amazing."

"...Yes, she was."

We sat in companionable silence, Noishe flopped over in the gap between us, kicking his leg in fitful slumber. 

* * *

Our departure from Asgard was a hard thing - partly because the festival was ongoing, and partly because Genis and Lloyd had made themselves sick on faire food and were terrible traveling companions. Raine had warned them, but it had been their pocket money, and there was something so alluring about fried food on a lovely night that I could hardly blame them. At least they hadn't gone in for the interesting street-meats.

"Stop complaining," ordered Raine, "I did _tell_ you."

Lloyd groaned.

"Sometimes you gotta take the lumps," I told him with exaggerated cheerfulness. "Anyone for a marching song?"

"Don't," pleaded Sheena, "even I feel a little sick. I ate so much yesterday."

"Stop talking about food," cried Genis.

"Perhaps this will teach you moderation," said Kratos, so sternly that I suspected he was teasing.

We hadn't really talked since yesterday, which I figured was for the best. I was terrible at talking about loss, especially other people's - I had a bad habit of sympathetic crying, which was grating at the best of times and offensive at the worst. But I was now more confident than ever that Kratos wasn't going to kill us outright, and I counted our conversation as a momentous, ground-shaking victory.

"Hey, do you think Umacy will be warm enough to swim in?" I asked, smiling at the thought.

"Absolutely not," said Raine, "drownings in lakes-"

"I'm a good swimmer," I said, dismissively. "I swam three miles across a lake once!"

I'd been younger, then, but the point stood.

"What? Why?" asked Lloyd. 

"For fun and exercise!"

"That doesn't... really sound fun," said Sheena. "I don't mind a soak in a hot spring, but that just sounds like work."

"I've never been to a hot spring," I said, wondering if a hotel hot tub counted as near enough.

"What?" Sheena was aghast. "We've got to go to one. There's one - well, I bet we could find one. It's really relaxing, and it's great for your skin. You'd love it."

"I'm sure I would," I agreed. "Apparently Thoda used to be a bathing spring, but then more geysers erupted and it got too hot."

"Thoda? Really?" Sheena raised her eyebrows. "I guess it did have that smell."

"I wanna go to a hot spring!" said Lloyd. "That sounds awesome!"

"It's just like a huge bath," grumbled Genis.

"It's way better," Sheena argued, "I can't explain exactly why, but it's completely different! I'll take you guys some time, I promise!"

* * *

May Day had come and gone soft and bright, but storm clouds were swelling in the north and rolling low over the hills, dark and heavy. We walked on, caught in some mundane argument about haircuts, and as noon came and went, it began to drizzle. By evening the breeze had turned to billowing gales, and the gentle rain was falling in tremendous, staggering sheets. There was no hope of staying dry, and we woke to soggy boots and a drenched fire.

* * *

It was still raining when we reached Lake Umacy. 

"Come on!" Lloyd complained, "We did this already! Quit with the rain!"

"You cannot control the weather, Lloyd," said Kratos, wet and annoyed.

"Let's get this over with," said Sheena, squinting out over the water. "Ugh, I can't see the unicorn in this weather."

"Undine will be able to find it," said Raine, all confidence. "Ask her to take - hmm."

"What's up?" asked Lloyd, stomping his feet in the mud to keep the feeling in them.

"The unicorn can only be approached by a pure maiden," said Raine.

"At the very least, Lloyd, Genis and I are out," said Kratos.

"What, only females can go?" asked Lloyd, sounding a little disappointed.

"So then, maybe Raine-" Genis began.

"I'll pass," said Raine, quickly. "But I don't know what we're going to do. We can't send Colette alone while she's like this."

Sheena whipped around, blush rising on her neck. "Hey! Are you saying I'm not qualified?"

"Qualified?" repeated Genis and Lloyd together.

"You - don't have to both say it at once," said Sheena, entirely red now.

"Then we'll send Colette and Sheena," sighed Kratos.

"Why can't the Professor or Edie go?" asked Lloyd, bemused.

"We're adults," said Raine, primly.

"Huh?" Lloyd frowned.

I shook my head. Lloyd was _seventeen!_ If Dirk hadn't given him the talk by now, then he'd be in real trouble. Raine and Kratos sure weren't going to do the job, not if their stance on swearing was any indication. Sheena's embarrassment ought to have been clue enough, but Lloyd might as well have been from another planet. God, I hoped _I_ wouldn't have to explain. I'd have to do hand gestures.

This was why you didn't send teenagers to save the world!

"O-okay, then, I'm going to summon now!" said Sheena, her voice unusually high-pitched. 

She hurried down the grassy bank, clearing a path through the cattails and verdant brush for Colette to follow her. The turbulent surface of the lake was made entirely opaque by the rain, but I thought I recognized a taste to the air - the unicorn's mana? It might have just been the smell of algae, for all I knew. The air rumbled, and a distant spear of lightning illuminated the dim midday sky. Sheena drew herself up nearly to the water's edge, and began her chant.

"I call upon the Maiden of the Mist," she intoned, "I summon thee. Come, Undine!"

Undine coalesced more quickly this time. Was it the surfeit of water, or some familiarity with Sheena? 

"Please, Undine," said Sheena, "take us to the unicorn."

Colette shuffled beside her, staring out at the water with a strange expression.

"As you wish." Undine's voice came as a shimmering echo. "To the lake."

Undine dissolved into the roiling water. The lake took on a faint, eerie light, the color of foxfire, and the surface swelled, tension pulling it smooth as the surface of a raindrop. Sheena took Colette's hand as the shoreline distended and formed a cushion beneath their feet, pulling them suddenly forward, ghosting across the surface of the water as if on a conveyor belt. Even as they neared the center, the surface bulged, ballooning up as if around a massive, invisible bubble - and then the Unicorn stood, resplendent and shining.

Its coat was an iridescent opalline white, catching every bit of passing color as through a prism. Its mane and tail were the exquisite jade of new leaves, and each of its slender legs tapered to the softest brown. The horn on its head was silver, and its eyes were black as pitch. It was not, strictly speaking, horse-shaped - it resembled more the _idea_ of a horse, all movement and sleekness. There was nothing ungainly or awkward to it.

"What are they saying?" asked Lloyd. "Ugh, I can't hear them over the rain!"

"It's bigger than I expected," I said, "it's like, two people tall."

"It _is_ a magical creature," said Raine.

"Look!" cried Genis. 

There was a sudden shower of white light. 

When I looked again, the unicorn was fading.

It had surfaced only moments ago.

"What's happening?" Genis asked, bewildered and upset.

"It's the way of unicorns," said Raine, softly. "When a unicorn loses its horn, it dies. By dying, a new unicorn is born. That's why unicorns are a symbol of death and rebirth." She caressed the side of Genis' head. "I'm sure another has been born, somewhere."

By the time the girls reached shore, the storm had abated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (waves arms like kermit the frog)


	13. Hima, Tower of Salvation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> C/W for graphic violence!

"Martel's a goddess, right?" asked Sheena. 

"That's what they call her," said Kratos woodenly. 

"The unicorn said he was born to cure Martel's illness," Sheena went on, "but - can goddesses  _ get _ sick?"

"Well, they must, right?" said Lloyd.

"That's silly," scoffed Sheena. 

"But, look, if you think about how Colette can become an angel, humans and angels can't be all that different," said Lloyd.

"And angels serve Martel," Kratos agreed.

"Hmm. I guess," Sheena allowed, "I still think it sounds kind of strange for a goddess to catch a cold."

"Well, yeah," Lloyd frowned. "That's true."

* * *

"Genis said you were trying to enchant one of your daggers," said Raine.

I grinned, to hide my embarrassment. "Yeah. I didn't quite understand how it worked."

"Yes, he said," Raine pulled her bag halfway around to her front, rifling around for a moment until she came up with a small wooden box. It was the kind with a sliding top, and about the size of a pencil case. She readjusted her bag and handed me the box. "These are by no means a permanent solution, but they do grant a temporary elemental aspect. I don't have much use for them, as I'm rarely in melee range, but..."

I slid back the top. The box, bottom cushioned with an old, holey stocking, was full of tiny stones. Some were as small as a fingernail, and others more like ping-pong balls. There was no mistaking them for Exspheres; they were angular and rough.

"Amethyst, smoky quartz..." I looked up. "Huh?"

"Certain varieties of quartz act as magical conduits. The crystal structure -" Raine interrupted herself, shaking her head. "It's a simple spell that imbues the elemental magic of the quartz into a weapon. These pieces are mostly too small for use in artificing," she went on, selecting one a cloudy red gem and holding it up to the light, "but they're useful in the short term. You're welcome to any of them that you like."

"Hang on," I said, thoughtful, dropping my own bag on one shoulder and digging around for the gems I'd taken from the Asgard ranch. Each were roughly the size of a tennis ball. I'd kept them in one of my old ruined shirts, intending to sell them when I got the opportunity - but I'd just sort of forgot. "Are these amethyst?" I asked, holding them up for Raine's appraisal.

Her eyes went wide.

"Where did you get these?"

"Kvar," I said, "he had these animated stone things, and these were in the middle."

"These..." she picked one up, shaking her head, "these are flawless. They would sell for a fortune, certainly. But," she amended, "if you  _ would _ like a magical weapon, you should keep them. Stones like that are valuable components in crafting. If you  _ do _ decide on one, Dirk is certainly the most  _ competent _ craftsman I know of."

"Something tells me he'll be busy with all the key crests," I smiled, "thank you, though." I re-wrapped them and had a second look at the little box. "So I'm guessing color has to do with elemental affinity?" Raine nodded. I gently separated out the black stones from the rest - there weren't many - and piled them in my palm. There were three - two stones, each barely larger than a pea, and a third the size of a marble. "Can I take these?"

"Of course," she said, gaze lingering on my hand. "Do you know how to use them? It's simple - hardly more than a gesture."

It was - although I didn't practice with the black quartz. That was for later.

A thought occurred. 

"Do you think Lloyd could make something out of one of these?" I asked, patting the bundle under one arm. 

"Hm. Perhaps," said Raine. "You could certainly ask."

I nodded, thoughtful. "Yeah, I will."

* * *

"Out of  _ this _ ?" said Lloyd, weighing the lump of amethyst. It was aflame in firelight, glowing red and luminous. It really was a flawless crystal, the color even through, the surface unblemished and bright. It had to be artificial, I thought - I'd never seen a stone like it. "I can't really make a weapon, if that's what you're asking. You need a forge and everything."

"Would you be able to make a charm? Like a big bead? Something that would grant resistance to lightning?"

Lloyd shrugged. "Yeah, I could try. But this thing is huge. Are you sure you want  _ me _ doing it? You could ask my Dad, after -"

I shook my head. "I'd want you to do it. If you think you have the  _ skill _ , that is," I said, wiggling my eyebrows. 

"Shut up, I do!" Lloyd, grinning. "Fine. This stuff's really nice, so it shouldn't be super hard. How big should it be?"

I tried to form a picture in my mind. "Er... Like... This?" I mimed the shape of a dollar coin. "Or whatever you think is the most effective. But it's gotta have a hole in it. Unless that messes with the enchantment?"

Lloyd laughed. "Nah, it's fine. What's this for, anyway?"

"It's," I paused, "a secret.  _ Anyway _ , I'll pay you for your time and stuff. What would your dad charge for something like this?"

Lloyd waved a hand. "No way, you don't need to pay me."

"Friends don't let friends do work for free," I insisted, clapping him on the shoulder. "And I know you and Genis blew all your spending money on honeycakes."

His face went grey at the memory. "Ugh,  _ fine _ . Don't remind me."

* * *

"Hmph. You're improving," said Kratos.

I grinned. "That's practically fawning, coming from you."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "When you start from nothing, improvement is no great feat."

"Ouch."

"We'll begin training with live steel tomorrow morning."

I made a face. "Eugh, really?"

" _ Yes _ , really," his expression was humorless.

I sighed, leaning on the hilt of the upright training sword. "My man, we've only a little while left as a group. Isn't there anything more pressing?"  _ Like hanging out with Lloyd, your son?  _ I thought. I had no idea why Kratos was devoting so much time to this. He spent the bulk of his social hours with Lloyd, sure, but that was because Kratos was his  _ mentor _ . There was no other word for it; Kratos always made time for Lloyd, even if Lloyd didn't want to make time for him. 

"That is precisely  _ why _ it is pressing," said Kratos. 

"Are you ever going to tell me why?  _ Really _ why," I said, when he opened his mouth.

I wasn't buying the 'you should be more versatile' thing. Kratos and I got along, but we weren't friends, and I wasn't young enough to be a good student. 

I had a pretty good guess, though.

The Eternal Sword needed a half-elf.

If I could do it, then Lloyd wouldn't need to.

"You're very fond of Lloyd," Kratos said, instead of answering my question.

"I'm fond of all the kids," I said. "They're good people."

"And Professor Sage?"

I smiled. "I haven't really had a friend my age in a while. It's nice."

"Hmph. You show very little animosity towards humans or elves, despite the general treatment of half-elves."

I could nearly see where this was going. "People are people," I shrugged, because I couldn't think of anything better to say. "As the good book says, 'don't hate the player, hate the game'." 

"I don't recall that particular passage," said Kratos, dryly.

"I'm paraphrasing."

"Regardless," said Kratos, "I wonder if such an attitude will hold up under pressure. Such a careless opinion may not survive the transformation of the world."

"I thought everything was supposed to be sunshine and rainbows after the Regeneration," I said, sweet as sugar. Kratos' eyes narrowed, but only for a moment. 

"Nothing in life is so easy."

* * *

We made our way west through the lake country. The sky was clear and blue and the landscape verdant green. Fields of waist-high grass shimmered in the breeze, and the air was warm and sweet. Insects buzzed in low pools and skimmed the mirror-still faces of broad ponds; songbirds bickered in the trees and hawks and eagles rode the heated air in easy circles. Cattle grazed in the undergrowth, and herons preyed in shallow waters.

* * *

"The amount of ambient mana is increasing," said Raine. "Not exponentially, but there is a marked difference."

"That's good, isn't it?" asked Sheena. "Sylvarant isn't in as much danger now." 

"Perhaps," sighed Raine. "It may only be temporary. The Desian ranch was destroyed in... February? And now that the Seal of Light has been released, the normal deficit has become a slight gain."

"Then we have more time, right?" asked Lloyd.

"Desians aren't so easily stamped out," said Kratos. "They took two heavy losses, but they  _ will _ be back."

"Not only that," said Raine, "The adjustment brought on by the Seal rituals is temporary. Without the completion of the Journey at the Tower of Salvation, they will, in time, revert. Chosens have done as much in the past, but none since Spiritua have been successful, and none have ever provided the flush of mana necessary to revitalize Sylvarant. And Kratos is correct about the Desians; Ranches have been destroyed before, although none in the last hundred or so years."

"I don't get it," said Genis, "if Mithos the Hero made stuff the way it is, why isn't the mana split half and half? If there's enough mana to sustain two worlds at all, then why make one world suffer while the other flourishes?"

"Divide and conquer," I said, and then, at his look, "it's easier to retain power if people are more focused on bickering with each other than uniting against the guy in charge. Classic political strategy."

"That's a very cynical view," said Raine. "There may be some function to it we don't see. Mithos was, by all accounts, devoted to ending the Kharlan War. Why go through all that effort only to create another hostile system?"

"Good question," I said. 

"And it's not like he'd get anything out of it," Genis continued. "He'd have to be dead by now!"

"Unless he's an elf," suggested Sheena. "He could still be around."

Raine shook her head. "Elves live long, but not that long. Perhaps two thousand years at the outset, if he was a very powerful mage."

An odd look came over Lloyd's face, but whatever thought he may have had, he didn't voice it.

* * *

Luin was mostly deserted

Reconstruction efforts had gone no further than clearing the main roads of heavy debris. The population that hadn't been absorbed by nearby farmsteads or townships sheltered in those few buildings that had survived the attack, while elsewhere fallen beams had become trellises and lots had become urban forests. Nature was fast reclaiming the islands left uninhabited, except for the occasional crater of blighted, infertile earth.

A woman had set up a general store in the skeleton of the old inn, selling moldering grain at inflated prices, and there was more than one stray dog roaming the streets.

Sheena looked on in despair.

"I thought, maybe..."

"It's sowing season," sighed Raine. There was no one free to haul lumber or clear rubble, not in springtime. "There may never be enough money or manpower to really rebuild the city. I'm sorry."

Raine looked nearly as disappointed. Part of the initial argument for finding Undine was in service to the many refugees from Luin - but they hadn't known to wait for us, and staying put wouldn't fill their stomachs. 

Sheena shook her head. "Don't be sorry. If it wasn't for you... anyway," she said, clearing her throat, "I wanna come back here after everything is over. See what I can do." She sighed. "Well, if I'm not arrested or something."

"Arrested?" asked Lloyd.

"By the King? I  _ was _ ordered by the king of Tethe'alla to assassinate you guys, remember?"

"You have a king?" asked Lloyd.

"I told you about all this!"

"They can't arrest you," argued Genis, "or they won't, once they understand what's going on! Once they know about Mithos, I bet they'll change their minds."

"It's not always about what's true," said Sheena, "it's all politics over in Meltokio. But you guys shouldn't worry about that." Colette reached over to Sheena and transcribed something into her palm. "It's  _ not _ your fault if I get in trouble," Sheena laughed, "I made my choice. Besides, Mizuho are basically outsiders anyway. We'll figure it out." She sounded more confident than she looked.

"We shouldn't linger," said Kratos, changing the subject. "This is not a friendly place to visit."

* * *

Summer crept over the western hills.

In the air was the smell of algae and manure, the buzzing of flies and a haze of shimmering heat. May had started in bloom and now it was beginning to fruit. Vineyards raked across dry basins and over yellow hillocks, farmland overgrown with strangling white ivy. The river Sinoa traced the road some hundred miles and then meandered south into the Hima foothills, dropping into the canyon streams and hidden caves of the deep mountains.

Fields bristled with early risers, great round cabbages and tufts of hardy spinach. Radishes and leeks and mustard greens put up their heads for plucking. Wild strawberries grew along the roadside, no larger than the tip of the thumb but sweet as candy. Mulberry trees reeked of sweet rot, branches full and heavy with fruits like purple jewels. We would miss the blackberries in early July.

The carrion birds were often overhead, scavenging what monsters left behind, and always there was the sound of insects. On days when the air was still it became like fumes; on others, the breeze would carry the smell of the sea inland, and I would be at peace.

* * *

"That's Hima Peak," said Genis, pointing at the distant line of mountains. "It's the highest point in Sylvarant! Well," he amended, "except for the Tower of Salvation."

"How far are we?" I asked.

"Three days?" estimated Raine. "If the weather holds."

* * *

The night air was cool and dark. It smelled of summer in the mountains - of dust, and dirt, and heat - and of a distant storm. I sat propped up against a lonely wooden post daggers in my lap and my eyes on the horizon. What time was it? I couldn't be sure without a watch. I had never been good at guessing.

Colette lay in gentle repose some way away, counting the stars. Middle watch was never any fun, but it needed doing. It was an excuse to keep Colette company during the long night hours.

You got good at sounds, after enough traveling. The brain didn't cope well with lending equal weight to the sound of a rabbit in the underbrush and the sound of scraping steel, and so it adjusted - or it ought to have. I was never really relaxed on watch; I slept soundly when I did only because I knew Raine or Kratos or Lloyd were doing the listening for me. 

Colette, I knew, heard things too well.

Sometimes we passed the night together, her seated beside me while I whispered stories just for her. But not tonight. There was a strange feeling in the air; mana? Apprehension?

Hima was too close.

I sighed.

Colette and Kratos sat bolt upright. 

"What-"

A crossbow bolt glanced off Kratos' raised shield. Another grounded itself in the dirt.

I leaned forward into a crouch, heart racing in the sudden, ringing silence. 

We were in the foothills of Hima; the landscape had changed. In the lowlands there were pines and oaks and cedars, but higher up there were mesquite trees, wiry acacias and hardy, clinging ironwoods. The damp, soft earth of the hills had turned to gravel rock split with grey-green ferny bushes. The earth was uneven and loosely packed. It would be hard to move quickly.

Raine and Sheena woke. Genis and Lloyd slept on.

Kratos held up a hand for silence. He moved forward, a heel-toe roll hardly audible over my own heartbeat.

"Stay here," he said at last, hardly a whisper. "Protect the Chosen."

I stepped silently into place beside him. "They're trying to draw you out," I murmured. "I'll go." Invisibly. They had targeted him, not the person on watch - which showed either great perceptiveness or incredible stupidity.

After a moment, Kratos relented.

I disappeared into the trees.

Where could they be hiding? There were too many crags and crevices, too many places to secret yourself away. Maybe they'd fled - but no, Kratos wouldn't have been so wary. Had they heard the bolt being cocked? Had they heard the twang of the string, or something else? It had happened too fast. My ears stung with the effort of listening; I scaled a low cliffside, eyes sweeping the fresh strip of land - and my arm suddenly seared white-hot with pain.

I leapt back, hand coming up to cradle the cut on my bicep - but there wasn't time.

The attacker was larger than me, cloaked and dark, his short sword gleaming with my blood.

He lunged, and I dropped behind him, dagger ripping up through cloth and skidding off the armor underneath. He wheeled around, head tilting one way and another as he reoriented himself.  _ He can't see me _ , I realized, narrowly avoiding another blow,  _ but he can hear me _ . He was so fast, as fast as I was and bigger, his reach longer - I leapt out of his way once, twice - his blade hit my bracer hard enough to bruise, and I nearly stumbled.

I feinted backwards, another retreat, then appeared behind and slightly above him, and slammed my hands down over his ears, palms flat.

Boxing someone's ears can make someone go deaf, in the right circumstances.

I landed badly, but he was reeling - he reached out one hand in an instinctual attempt to steady himself, and I lashed out. There was the sound of colliding steel, clattering metal and a light, fleshy thump. The other hand struck out like a viper and seized me by the throat; lightning flashed somewhere below me, robbing me of my night vision, and my chest exploded.

* * *

" _ Edie! _ "

I gripped someone's wrist hard - it was too narrow. Raine? 

"She hit her head on the way down," she said, strangely distant.

"Look out," I gasped, surprised to find myself winded. Why was Raine here? The attacker was still around? 

"Calm down," she ordered, "you're safe."

The words washed over me, cool and calm. 

I was lying in the gravel, reeling in the afterglow of powerful healing magic. My stomach ached something awful, and my arms were sore, but I was alive. It was still dark out; Kratos stood somewhere overhead, fire in one hand like a shivering lantern. There was blood on the ground - mine, and someone else's. I groaned, and sat up. Raine didn't try to stop me - the mess of my abdomen was closed over and my arm was no longer bleeding.

"He was fucking fast," I said. Raine was too tired or too shaken to tell me off for cursing. "He could hear me well enough to hit me."

Raine nodded. "The blade that cut your arm is like nothing I've ever seen before. It's been coated in poison. If you didn't have an Exsphere..." She shook her head. "We haven't found the crossbow or a body, but Kratos is certain he fled. There's no one else."

I sighed. "Well, damn. That's embarrassing."

"Your opponent did not escape unscathed," said Kratos. I followed his gaze.

"Oh, ew."

"Two fingers severed at the first knuckle," said Raine, in a tone of detached interest. "That kind of injury should bleed horribly, but there's no blood spatter and no trail. Even the detached extremities are barely oozing."

"Oozing," I repeated. "He's gonna miss his ring."  _ And _ I was taking that sword.

Narrative causality hadn't been kind to Yuan.

"I think it may be an actual diamond," said Raine, "do you mind if I...?"

"Loot the corpse?"

"He likely isn't dead," Raine replied, as if that made it okay.

I staggered to my feet. "You do you, Raine. Just..." I paused. " _ Don't _ take the fingers."

Raine replied a beat too late. "But I've never seen such a premortem injury-"

"Raine, please."

"Very well," she sniffed, "but it's a foolish waste of-"

"We should return to camp," said Kratos, "The others are no doubt awake. It's possible that Lloyd may even be conscious. We should make an early start today," he advised, "I fear we'll find no rest in the wilderness tonight, not after such an event."

* * *

Spiritua's life had been short and eventful.

She had received the Oracle at 16, like Colette, and traveled with at least two retainers. One had been a warrior - another, a priest. She'd preached at the temple in Palmacosta to crowds of thousands, and had kindled in Sylvarant a new and evangelical faith in Martel and in Cruxis. Modern accounts insisted that Spiritua was the first ever Chosen - despite Martel's withdrawal set some three-thousand years before Spiritua was ever born, and evidence of prior mana cycles.

Maybe Spiritua was the first relative success in a long line of failed experiments. Maybe Cruxis' erasure of the historical record concealed some greater sin I couldn't imagine. But Spiritua had gotten to the Tower, and she had saved Sylvarant.

One retainer went on to become the Archbishop of Palmacosta.

The other went on to die in Hima.

The mountain had become the nexus of a different kind of faith.

It was a place for warriors to die, or failing that, to be interred. The mountainside was terraced with burial grounds of all sorts, with no internal consistency or regulation. There were plots with headstones, there were forgotten monuments teetering in the high wind, and there were a thousand rusted swords, staves and spears, plunged into the earth as grave markers. The people buried here had been mercenaries, adventurers - the kind of people who didn't belong in family plots or church graveyards.

If you died here, here they buried you.

If you died elsewhere, and were lucky, your friends paid some passing traveller to carry your bones to their final resting place. The lowest tier of the mountain graveyard was full of people who had never seen Hima in their lives.

Spiritua's retainer hadn't been buried with a headstone or weapon - and so their name had been forgotten, and their gravesite along with it.

There was an inn, a chapel - and little else. Hima's living were of a similar make to the dead; hoary old sellswords, mostly, but a few families, all as distant from the surface as some spacefaring astronaut. They had their own small world here. They suffered the young adventurers and the well-to-do tourists and the pilgrims, and buried the dead as they came. 

Sylvarant was full of people making the best of a bad situation. 

Hima had simply become a kind of necropolis, offering a noble death at a good price. And if you weren't looking to die, then you could, at least, get a guided tour.

* * *

The dragon tamer had set up shop high on the mountain - as close to the summit as he could get without obscuring the view. The dragons, twice the size of horses and covered nose to tail in spines and scales, slept in a makeshift paddock. There was a kiosk, a little shack, and a wooden sign hammered into the ground:  _ Dragon Tours Here! _ The owner was barrel-chested, tall, and very cheerful.

"No, no, no, this won't do at all!" he boomed, waving his hands. "I can't possibly take money from the Chosen! Please put that money away!"

"We haven't taken it out yet," grumbled Genis.

"In that case," said the dragon tamer, ignoring Genis, "I'll have three high-class dragons ready for you by tomorrow morning!" He was so puffed up at his own charity that he was in danger of exploding. "Of course, I will  _ not _ accept any money! How _ ever _ -"

Raine sighed. "What is it?"

"I've heard that the area around the Tower of Salvation is dangerous, so," the dragon tamer looked sheepish, his voice a little less expansive, "if you could just. I mean, my cute little dragons are-"

"Not a problem," Raine interrupted. "When we reach our destination, we'll return the dragons to you. Is that all right with everyone?"

"I have no objections," offered Kratos.

"Yeah," agreed Lloyd, "we'll figure out how to get back when the time comes."

"I understand. Well, then, I'll await you all here tomorrow morning," said the dragon tamer.

It was as if people lost all objectivity in the face of The Journey. There was something intoxicating and powerful about it, no matter what you believed. They were drunk on the magic of it, on the grandeur - but also on hope. Raine and the others knew a story would end tomorrow, but not how. We would have answers, but would they be answers we liked?

I wasn't any better. Stopping Colette now wasn't impossible, but I wasn't going to try. She and the others deserved to see what was in that tower - although 'deserved' may not have been the right word.  _ Needed _ . 

They needed to see what Cruxis was.

Raine grabbed my collar and tugged me sharply backwards.

I almost stumbled. I had been looking at the Tower, lost in thought; now I stood inches from the spot where red rock became open sky. All drops like that had a dangerous gravity to them, and I had nearly walked out onto the blue. "Ow," I said, rubbing at my neck. 

"Pay attention to where you're going."

"It's cold up here," Lloyd complained, "can we get rooms?"

"Yes," Raine sighed, "I think it's probably best that we all take the evening to relax, but I don't want anyone wandering off. Stay in the village and close to where people are, I don't want a repeat of what happened in the foothills." 

Raine was right, of course. If Kratos and I had gone together, or if we'd both stayed put, then I wouldn't have ended up with a hole in my stomach. It still ached.

"I hope they have a kitchen," said Genis, "I really don't feel like cooking tonight."

"Come on," urged Lloyd, "it's freezing."

The boys hurried off, followed at a walking pace by Sheena. Colette lagged behind for a moment, hands fluttering at her sides, before following the others.

"Tomorrow, then," said Kratos, by way of goodbye. And then he was gone, too.

Raine and I stood there for a moment, buffeted by the wind.

"Fuck," I said, with feeling.

"...Yes," Raine agreed. Then we both turned, just slightly, at the sound of Lloyd, shouting. It didn't sound like he was being attacked, but it didn't sound good. 

"Professor Sage! You've got to come quick!"

Raine and I shared a look. And then she took off at a jog.

* * *

Pietro was skin and bone. 

He was also alive.

Pietro was the original Asgard fugitive - he'd been the one to pry off that panel in the filthy assembly room, and he'd been the one sheltered at Luin. We found him catatonic in one of the musty upstairs bedchambers, tended to by Sophia, his constant companion. Sophia knew Sheena, and Sheena knew Pietro; it was only a matter of time before they had Raine at his bedside. Armed with the unicorn horn and Boltzmann's book, Raine could cure just about everything.

He'd taken the news about Luin hard - and then set his heart on restoring it, all in the span of thirty minutes. I was always impressed with the passion of Sylvaranti people; always so willing to commit themselves fully to this goal or that ideal.

"I owe them that much," he told Sheena. Sheena was in tears. "Thank you. I can't imagine... It must have been so hard."

"It's what anyone would have done," Sheena demurred.

"Mana Cannon," Raine muttered.

Pietro had escaped with two key pieces of information: the rebirth of the Angelus Project, and the Mana Cannon. 

Kvar had done a lot of talking before we'd killed him. Some of it had been about the Angelus Project. The Mana Cannon was news, and out of the seven of us, only Genis and Raine had ever even heard of it. And Kratos, of course, but he hardly counted. It wasn't welcome news, but right now it was just one more thing to worry about.

"Problem for another day?" I suggested. "That spell takes a lot out of you."

"I'm all right," Raine sighed. "I just wasn't expecting... such a scene."

I patted her shoulder. "We don't choose our burdens, only how we bear them."

Raine shot me a scathing look. "How  _ philosophical _ ."

"What can I say," I smiled, "I'm a tender soul."

Raine shook her head, the moment of levity dissolving like mist. She was tired. "Try and get some rest," she said. "And don't go wandering off on your own.  _ Even _ if you're invisible." 

"Yes, ma'am," I agreed. 

* * *

Colette found me before dark.

She pressed her book into my hands.

_ Don't open it until after, _ she wrote,  _ please. _

"Yeah," I said. "I promise."

She smiled. 

* * *

"Edie?"

"Genis?" I whispered, trying to make out his face in the dark. "You should be asleep."

"You're not," he accused. "Anyway, Lloyd's snoring. It's cold out here," he added, rubbing his arms and staring out into the night. "Huh. You can see the stars really clearly from here."

"Yeah," I agreed. The balcony was small - just large enough for one or two people to stand comfortably and admire the scenery. I dimly remembered Genis in Triet, sunburned, tired, and a head shorter than I was. He'd grown. Not by much, but enough to see he'd be needing new clothes before the year was out. Would he end up as tall as Raine? "What was that one called? Mithos' Arrow? Pointing north?"

"Mithos'  _ Lance _ ," said Genis. "He was supposed to have been a swordsman, though."

"Why not Mithos' Sword, then?"

Genis shrugged. " _ I  _ didn't name it."

"Who did?"

"Um... A priest, probably. Most astronomers before Spiritua were priests."

"You know a lot," I said, leaning out over the barrier. "Do you think you'll go and study at that place in Palmacosta? After all this?"

"Maybe," he said. "I dunno. I'm not sure... how much there'd be for me to learn there, you know? We've already seen so many weird things... And tomorrow..."

"Yeah."

Genis was quiet for a long while. And then he asked, "Are you scared? About tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Are you?"

"I think Raine is," he went on, "but she pretends not to be."

"Raine's had to be a grown-up for a long time," I said, placating. "She's used to acting strong for other people."

"For me, you mean."

I shrugged. "What's wrong with that? You're worth acting strong for."

Genis ducked his head, silver hair flashing in the starlight. 

"I wish someone else had to do this stuff. I wish someone else was the Chosen. But then someone else would go with that Chosen, and they'd probably feel just as bad as I do. It's not  _ fair _ ."

"Yeah," I agreed. "It's not. It's crummy and stupid."

"Then why are we still doing it?" he asked, plaintive.

"That's a good question," I said. "Why do you think?"

Genis took a moment. "Because we have to. Sylvarant will die otherwise."

"Maybe," I agreed. "Maybe it won't. But for right now it's all we have to go on."

"I don't trust Remiel," Genis blurted. "I mean, I know he's Colette's dad, but..."

"He's cold," I nodded. "I don't think he cares about Colette. Or Sylvarant."

"But he's an angel," Genis said. "Angels are... I mean, they're supposed to be good."

The Church of Martel didn't have a Christian hell, exactly; they believed in oblivion for the wicked, and they believed in a blissful afterlife for the good. Who needed eternal damnation when you had Desians? And if Desians were the ultimate Evil, it only followed that angels must be a kind of ultimate Good. They were the servants of heaven, the stewards of the faithful, and beloved of the Goddess. An angel couldn't be  _ bad _ , could he?

"They're supposed to be," I said. 

Genis sighed and rested his chin on the railing. 

"I just... want everyone to be okay."

I nodded.

"Me too. And we'll do our damndest to make sure that happens, right?"

"Right."

* * *

The morning came.

Low clouds ghosted across the mountain pass, a silvery fog that dusted everything in fine, glittering pearls of dew and stole the rock out beneath us. The sun rose as we did, painting the cliffs in slabs of red and catching the damp air in fleeting curtains of yellow and pink. The wind swept up, up, up the mountain, a waterfall running against gravity, and we gathered, the seven of us, in the courtyard of the inn.

Genis was still half-asleep, a bit of breakfast on his shirtfront. Raine and Sheena looked as if they'd slept badly. 

"Where's Noishe?" Sheena asked, smothering a yawn behind her forearm.

"He'll have to stay behind," said Kratos, motioning towards the paddocks. "He won't be able to join us on the dragons."

"He can probably find his way home from here," Lloyd said, "he's pretty smart."

"Is everyone ready?" asked Raine. "There's no guarantee we'll return safe from the Tower."

There was a chorus of nods and yesses. 

"Then let's proceed."

The air cleared as we climbed, until we stood in the perfect, crystalline light of morning, listening to the dragon tamer's final instructions.

"They'll know where to go," he insisted, "so you just sit back and relax. And make sure you don't stand up in the stirrups. There are handles along here. And don't tug on the leads, you might confuse them. And - well. Please make sure to send them back!"

"Of course," Raine promised wearily.

"I'll accompany the Chosen. Protecting her is my job," Kratos volunteered, when we had been given some room to breathe. "We have no way of knowing the state of the Tower."

"Which should be the group of three?" I asked, looking from one dragon to the next. They all  _ looked _ big enough to carry three people, but if the default was two...

"Hm. Genis, you and I can take one. Sheena and Lloyd can take the other," Raine decided.

"All right," Lloyd grinned at Sheena, "you wanna be in front or back?"

We mounted the dragons - they were an awkward height, and their wings made the whole thing difficult - and by the time I was sandwiched between Genis and Raine, Kratos and Colette had already gone. 

Our dragon was last to take flight. The dragon tamer escorted us down the mountain runway, clicking his tongue. He tied the leads in place alongside the saddle, and moved back, whistling shrilly. The dragon tensed, the center weight of it lowering in anticipation as the wings rose, massive sails in the clear air - and then brought them down, two thousand pounds of muscle launching us suddenly up, up, and into the air. 

Raine shrieked in my ear, frozen wind buffeting me against her. Genis was yelling too, but in delight, a breathless laugh of elated surprise as his hair whipped backwards. I couldn't breathe, the air too thick and cold and fast, but I was smiling. We soared skywards, the membranous wings of the dragon brilliantly illuminated in the morning light. I could see Sheena and Lloyd straight ahead, some two hundred yards off, already arcing towards the Tower. 

_ The Tower. _ It gleamed gold, a solid shaft of sunlight, impossibly tall against the green-blue-brown of the distant, miniature landscape. A sea of clouds broke low beneath us, and above there was nothing but searing blue sky. 

"There!" I could hardly hear Raine over the rushing wind - but she pointed, her other arm in a death grip around my waist. Below us, intermittently visible behind one flapping wing, we could see the base of the tower, an awful grey monolith descending into a black pit. We were still far away, the Asgard mountains a white-brown blur beneath us, but I could see the distant speck of Kratos and Colette, circling in towards a landing.

I knew, suddenly, that I should have pushed back against Kratos taking Colette ahead - but I was so tired, my mind a buzz of low-grade terror - it was too late now.  _ Godammit. _

There was a lip protruding into the Tower crevice, like a diving board in a pool. The stairs appeared not long after we'd spotted the others, and now we were close enough that I could make out the white of Colette's jacket and the yellow-gold of her hair as she started up along the staircase. Kratos followed close behind, a deep shadow against the illuminated path. We were above Lloyd and Sheena now, and it was impossible for me to guess how close they were to landing.

We coasted into a descent, the dragon making such slow circles above the Tower valley. Sheena and Lloyd were on the steps, Sheena turned back in our direction while Lloyd legged it towards the entrance - and then we landed heavily in the grass.

I was dizzy for a moment in the sudden stillness. Raine slid from the dragon, one hand already reaching for her staff. She looked worried and very windswept.

"Come on," she said, tugging me sideways by the base of my cloak. I half-fell, half leapt off, trying to find my feet as Genis dismounted with his sister's help. Sheena waved. We'd landed some hundred yards from the base of the steps, and Lloyd had already disappeared inside. I shook myself, and made the mistake of looking up. I staggered again in a wave of vertigo; how could anything be so tall? " _ Edie. _ We should go."

"Right."

I dragged my gaze back to earth. Back to Sheena on the steps. I took off at a jog, Raine and Genis behind me.

"The others have gone inside already," Sheena said, when we were halfway up the stairs. 

The doorway was a wall of turquoise light. It reminded me dimly of a warp platform.

"Let's party," I ground out, and passed through the barrier.

* * *

The world below was endless blue. 

The dead of the Tower coasted like tiny ships on a massive whirlpool, so distant and so numerous that for a moment I couldn't recognize them as bodies. Each was laid to rest in a dark coffin closed with an ornate lid; was I imagining it, or could I see faces through the translucent shell? There were so many of them, shapes fading into the foggy nothingness. The walkway, made of glass and lined in glowing pillars, terminated in a warp.

"What are they?" asked Sheena, slowing as she took in the slowly spinning helix.

"Bodies," said Raine, entirely without emotion. "Those must be coffins. They may well be all the Chosen that have failed the world regeneration up until now."

How many must that be? The last Chosen was Colette's great aunt - surely there hadn't been this many dead since Spiritua.

But these were Tethe'alla's dead, too.

"We can worry about this later," I said. I couldn't bring myself to be afraid - all my energy was transmuting into a frozen, distant anger. I could feel it, a lump of ice in my gut. "Come on."

The warp platform was large enough to accommodate all of us. 

There was that familiar, unpleasant feeling of being pulled thin, of suffocating - and then we were in the altar room.

It was in the same empty blue place as the hall of bodies. There was no ceiling, no sense of how high up we were - and there was the tree. The roots grew up and around the platform, like some kind of bizarre treehouse, each tendril wide enough to drive a bus through. The fractured skin of it was overgrown with deep green moss, verdant carpets of clover and wild grass that had never seen sunlight. The air here was thick with mana, stale and stagnating and tasting of dust.

Colette knelt at a high altar, back turned; Lloyd stood below, watching as Remiel descended on white wings.

Kratos was nowhere to be seen.

"Now, my daughter, release the final seal." Remiel's voice, dull and cruel, carried in the void. "In doing so, you will complete the final sacrifice of your human existence; your heart and your memory. By doing so of your own free will, you will become a true angel!"

"What?" asked Sheena, voice hollow with surprise. Hadn't she known? Hadn't she  _ suspected? _

"Sacrifice her heart and memory?" echoed Lloyd, face leeching white.

"Colette's going to forget about us," whispered Genis, a statement, rather than a question.

"Colette's human life will now end," said Raine, "and she will be reborn as an angel." Her face was a mask of grief. "I'm sorry. I promised Colette I wouldn't say anything. Colette will give up her life in order to regenerate the world. Becoming an angel means dying."

"That's not quite correct," said Remiel. "The Chosen's heart will die, and her body will be offered to the Goddess Martel." He smiled. His teeth were white and straight and gleaming. "By offering her body, Colette will revive the Goddess. This is the true nature of the world regeneration!" He was exultant now. "The revival of the Goddess Martel is the revival of the world itself!"

But we knew that wasn't true.

"Lord Remiel," said Raine, "we have heard of a world called Tethe'alla - a world that lies parallel to Sylvarant."

"That is not for you to know," said Remiel, expression flickering so briefly - annoyance? Impatience? 

"You kept it a secret because it's true, correct?" Raine persisted.

"From where did you learn of it?" Remiel asked, eyes drifting first to me, then to Sheena.

"Can't Cruxis make both worlds peaceful?" Sheena blurted, "Can't there be some kind of balance?"

"If that is what the Chosen desires, she can lend her power to Cruxis by becoming an angel. Once the Goddess Martel is revived by the Chosen, the two worlds will surely achieve peace, just as the Chosen wishes." 

Colette's head lifted up, her face turned towards Remiel in supplication.

"Is that true, you ask?" he said, smiling down at her with that same awful indifference. "You know why you have come here."

"You can't," cried Sheena, "are you really planning to die?!"

"Colette, stop," Lloyd begged, "If you sacrifice yourself, your friends who love you and your family, and - and me! We'll all be sad. It'll be the same as sacrificing all of us!" He started towards the stairs, but Genis grabbed him around the middle - the boys scuffled, both of them miserable, both of them desperate to help Colette and powerless to do it. My heart was pounding in my throat, and I was so  _ angry _ .

Raine's hand suddenly closed vice-like around my elbow, thin fingers belying an incredible strength. If she was trying to stop me, then she was wasting my time. I was paralyzed by my fury - and by the knowledge that I was going to  _ let this happen _ .

"The sacrifice of one person, the Chosen," said Remiel, "will save the world. Would you choose her soul over the entire world?  _ Now _ , Colette. Come,  _ join your father. _ "

She reached for him.

"Isn't there any other way?" Lloyd called, "She's your  _ daughter! _ Surely you don't really want her to die, either!"

Colette's body was seeping light, a syrupy gold that settled on her skin - she was no longer quite standing on the ground. She was bent, slightly, and shaking - was she in pain? Remiel paid her no mind, turning his face to Lloyd, his eyes cold and hard as stone, his face placid and lifeless. The only joy there was sneering and vicious - in that moment, he looked eerily like Kvar. 

"Don't make me laugh," Remiel bared his teeth in a grimace. "When I came down to play the role of guardian angel, you inferior beings just started calling me her father on your own. I merely  _ placed _ the Cruxis Crystal upon this sacrifice who was selected to become Martel's vessel."

_ It's okay. _

Colette's voice came ringing through my head. How long had it been since I'd heard it? There was no voice so sweet, so kind - so sad.

_ I think I knew from the start. _

"Colette!" cried Lloyd, "if you knew what was going on, then why?"

_ You can hear my voice?  _ Colette straightened - her skin was aflame, her hair floating around her shoulders - I could feel the mana writhing around her, a great uncoiling beast twisting in the air - but her eyes were still blue. She smiled.  _ I'm so happy. I'll be able to say goodbye in the end. _

Genis was sobbing. Tears streaked down Sheena's face.

Raine wouldn't let go.

Lloyd was in agony. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, "I'm so sorry, Colette. I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

_ No. Thank you, Lloyd. Because of you, I was able to find the courage to protect the world.  _ Her smile was soft, and so far away.  _ Because of you, I was able to find the strength to live these sixteen years to the fullest. So please. Let me go. _

" _ Colette! _ " 

_ It looks like it's time. _

She rose into the air, the nexus of a storm; the mana in the air became solid, visible, a whirl of iridescent light so bright that it burned. She was cocooned in it, a momentary shadow against a white sun, wings shattering out from her in spears of glittering pink - and then the storm imploded. The light curled into Colette, fading into her skin like disappearing scars, and she hung there, a porcelain doll in white robes.

When she opened her eyes, they were a deep, deep red.

Remiel began to laugh.

"I've done it." 

All traces of artifice had disappeared. There was no kindness left in his face, even the imitation of it.

"It's finally complete. Martel's vessel is finally complete! With this, I  _ shall  _ become one of the Four Seraphim!"

"W-wait! What are you gonna do with Colette?" demanded Sheena.

"He's going to take her to Heaven," whispered Raine.

"You  _ bastard _ ," said Lloyd, "Cruxis, the angels, the Goddess Martel - it's all a big lie, isn't it!? Let her go,  _ now! _ " He climbed the steps two at a time, but he was so far from Colette or Remiel - and so angry and afraid.

I shook my arm free.

"That I cannot do," said Remiel. "For she is Martel's vessel. And I have no use for you," he said, turning cold eyes on Lloyd, " _ begone. _ "

I landed half on his shoulder, the assassin's sword digging through the flesh on the other side of his neck - he screamed, more in anger than pain. Someone else yelled - Sheena? Raine? - and Remiel grabbed me by the ankle, flinging me away into empty space. The place where I'd cut him was leeching black and trailing a faint, putrid-looking smoke - Raine called for me, but I was already back on the platform, readjusting my grip.

"You will  _ all die _ ," Remiel cried, pulling an arrow out of the air and sighting on me in an instant.

Lloyd leapt full off the altar - this wasn't a game. Remiel didn't  _ have _ to fight on our level. Lloyd caught him around the neck, with both arms and tried to drag him down, Sheena using one of the pillars as a kind of springboard to launch herself feet-first into Remiel's midriff. 

Remiel slammed into the platform, reaching out and seizing Lloyd by the face, palm erupting with searing white light - the air sizzled with the smell of burning flesh as Lloyd rolled away, gripping his face as Raine hurried to him.

Solid air cut past Remiel as he darted up again, evading a flash of noxious light as Sheena's thrown card made contact with stone rather than flesh - he was too fucking fast. Not as fast as Yuan, not as fast as me - but fast.

" _ Edie! _ " Raine yelled, "we can't fight him like this-"

"I know!" I called back - this time, I didn't go for the neck.

I brought the sword down like a cleaver, splitting muscle, feather and bone, Remiel's left wing separated from his body with a wet, tearing  _ schhhrick _ . There was no cloud of blood, no sudden gory viscera - he had all the circulation of an embalmed body. 

Remiel spiraled, crashing sideways as he tried to adjust - the wing hung off him by a string of grey tissue, a sudden dead weight. The wound was already turning dark, necrotic, a thousand years of putrefaction in the space of a heartbeat.

This sword was for killing angels.

" _ Vermin! _ " Remiel shrieked, throwing Lloyd away from him in an arc of light - but he was getting slower.

And then he teleported - a flash of white, and he was gripping Genis by the throat, throwing him towards the edge of the platform. I caught Genis in midair, and in another moment we were skidding hard across the stonework. Genis fell onto his knees, retching, and I looked up just in time to see a spear of white light go sideways through Sheena's skull.

" _ Fuck! _ "

"Raine!" yelled Lloyd, panic lancing through his voice as Raine hurried, face white, the glass platform slick with blood-

My ears were ringing - I couldn't think - I descended on Remiel, clawing at him, closing one hand around his throat as my arm burned black, purple flames catching on his vestments, and I slammed his head into a pillar, once, twice, until it split like a rotten melon, head dented inwards and seeping stinking black ooze, jaw hanging loose, grey flesh underneath slimy and shivering as what mana remained in his body tried, stupidly, to rekindle some semblance of life - but he was gone.

I tore at the collar of his robe, and yes - there was an Exsphere, hideous little gem set in gold. I ripped it from him and crushed it under my bootheel.

"Sheena?" Lloyd was bent over her, voice hoarse.

" _ Stop crowding me _ ," Raine snapped, "she'll live, but-"

"Enough of this foolishness."

Kratos stood at the altar, arms crossed and face impassive. 

"Kratos!" Genis shot up, face mottled with tears, "where-"

"The Chosen has no life left for you to save," he continued. I wasn't prepared for how much it  _ hurt _ to see him like this, distant and cold. "We will take the Chosen as the new body for Martel. Remiel's death is no great loss," he said, as if it was an afterthought. "Leave, now, and you might leave alive."

"What?" Lloyd asked, uncomprehending. "What are you saying?"

"This is the end, Lloyd. Stand aside."

"Who are you?" asked Genis, a broken whisper. "You're not-"  _ not Kratos, _ he mouthed.

Kratos didn't smile. Kratos didn't gloat.

"I am of Cruxis, the organization that guides this world," Kratos said, without expression or passion. He raised a hand - and white-blue wings unfurled behind him, each spectral feather a thing of exquisite beauty, and in this moment, of earth-shattering horror. It was a moment of uncanny fear - Kratos' face was suddenly the face of a stranger, those familiar dark eyes flat and so incredibly remote. "I am one of the Four Seraphim sent forth to keep close watch over the Chosen."

"No," said Genis, still on his knees beside Sheena's body, "no, that can't be true!"

"You lied to us," said Lloyd, frozen.

"Lied?" Kratos looked down at him. "If the Chosen merges with Martel, she will awaken, and the world will be saved. Is that not what you wanted?"

"If Colette's body is taken," Raine said, "then she will truly die."

"No," contradicted Kratos. "She will be reborn as Martel."

"You  _ bastard, _ " cried Lloyd - and it was like Kvar all over again.

Kratos swatted him out of the air. Lloyd landed badly, ankle cracking underneath him as he rolled, scrambling for purchase on the glass. I tried my luck, dropping behind Kratos and preparing to split him up the middle - but he was too fast.

He turned even as I appeared, knocking the cursed sword out of my hands and kicking it away, skidding across the platform and off into the abyss - I caught it just by the handle, but Kratos took advantage of my distraction, shield slamming into the back of my head so that I went toppling off after it. When I landed again, parallel with the platform, the momentum sent me tumbling.

Lloyd flew at Kratos, swords flashing - he was parrying Kratos' blows, holding his own for precious few seconds before Kratos struck out. Lloyd screamed, pilloried in purple lightning, and Kratos stepped aside just as Genis conjured a bolt of roiling fire. 

It was humiliating. Kratos wasn't even bothering to fly out of reach. He turned Lloyd and I aside with ease, hardly moving except to bring down great bolts of blinding white light.

When he disarmed me again, I didn't bother going for the sword.

I flashed behind him, seized his shield arm in both of mine, and pulled.

When I teleported back to where Raine stood, part of it came with me.

It was just like Remiel's injury; the flesh had torn just below the elbow like rubber, bloodless and grey, strips of muscle hanging limp and red but I had  _ seen  _ Kratos bleed before, hadn't I? Or had that all been some act? The disembodied hand, brown skin and square fingers, spasmed weakly at the end of the dead arm, still firmly attached to Kratos' shield. I pitched it and the shield over the edge - dimly aware of how weak I felt, how many times I had teleported in only a few minutes.

Lloyd was pushing Kratos back, cornering him against the sheer wall of the altar platform. Kratos had changed his stance, stumped elbow held back as he tried to fend off Lloyd. His face was pale - but was that pain, or anger? 

He thrust forward - I could hear him casting, and dragged Raine sideways, but I wasn't fast enough. The stone pillar caught me full in the chest, winding me once and running me through with a dozen narrower stone spears - the sight of so much blood, my own blood - I couldn't find my feet.

The last thing I saw was Raine, her body curled over Genis, orange coat turning red at the shoulders - and then I was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was super hard to write and i hope it reads well. Angels, man.


	14. Triet Base, Meltokio

Raine was leaning over me when I woke up. My vision fuzzed for a moment as I took her in - shaken, pale, but no sign of tears. I was sore, and lying on something soft; Raine's hair, however matted, was foreground to an interior tableau of ornate golden furnishings and soft, lavender upholstery. I gazed for a moment at the coffered ceiling, taking a brief inventory of my body - yes, there were my fingers, there were my toes, there were my eyelids. 

I was alive, and in one piece.

"We've got to stop meeting like this," I said, mouth dry and voice croaking.

"Fool," she said, after a moment. "You could have been killed."

I tried to cast my mind back - and recalled the stone spears. 

"You definitely would have been," I said, levering myself into a seated position.

I looked around.

Genis and Lloyd were huddled on the next bed over. Raine was seated in a high-backed chair by my bedside. Sheena lay in the bed behind Raine, hands splayed on her stomach and chest fluttering gently, and Colette - Colette stood only feet away, face forward and eyes dull. 

I rubbed my throat - Raine poured me water from a silver carafe pearled with condensation, and I took a long gulp of it before speaking again. "Is Sheena okay?"

Raine looked over her shoulder. "Yes. I think so, at least. She was awake earlier, but..."

"But what?"

Raine frowned. "She's having problems with motor coordination. Remiel's attack pierced her skull, Edie. Without Boltzmann's technique, she wouldn't have survived at all."

"She's talking okay?"

"She was lucid and present, yes," Raine agreed. "Her vision may also have been affected. I can't be sure."

"Are _you_ okay?" 

"I'm uninjured," Raine allowed.

I pulled myself off the bed, picking at the holes left in my tunic and cloak. The tunic - already my spare - was completely ruined, stiff with dry blood. I still had my daggers, and there was my pack - it'd suffered in the fight with Kratos, and most of the front pocket was completely destroyed, but some of my trinkets had survived. I'd lost most of the poison darts, and the cursed sword was nowhere to be found. 

I sighed. "You get some rest. I'll keep watch for a bit."

Raine nodded, slowly. And then, "You didn't ask where we were."

I closed my eyes for a moment. _Right_.

"I didn't, did I."

"Who are you, Edie?"

I rubbed at the back of my neck.

Yes, I owed her that much, and more. It had been longer than she had promised to wait, Kratos had proven himself a traitor, and Colette was hardly alive. I didn't want her guessing, not right now, when things were so fragile.

"I'm not from Sylvarant or Tethe'alla," I said, at last. "I'm not from this world at all. I don't know how I got here, or why I'm here, but I'm here. Um," I frowned, trying to think of anything and everything pertinent. "I know about your world from a story. I don't know everything, but up until last year I thought it was fiction." I shrugged. "That's the whole of it, more or less."

Raine stared.

And then her face twisted into a mask of hurt and anger.

"For once, I ask you to be serious - you-"

I grabbed her hands in both of mine, willing her to listen to me.

" _Raine_. I. Am. Not. Joking."

She wrestled her hands free, but she didn't hit me or run away. She looked at me, _really_ looked at me, her thin chest heaving with the effort of keeping her temper. 

"Prove it," she said. "What proof do you have?"

I frowned.

I was never - under pain of death - going to admit the whole truth to Raine. How could she ever consider herself my friend knowing the full extent of my knowledge? I could reveal the truth of her birth in Tethe'alla, the childhood near-drowning that cemented her fear of water - but what would that do to a person, to have your worst trauma presented so nakedly - to be handed over as a token of trust? 

Raine's secrets weren't game pieces.

"After Kratos knocked us out, his boss showed up. Yggdrasill - tall guy, blonde hair," I said. "We were saved at the last moment by the Renegades - who look like Desians, but aren't."

Her mouth opened and closed.

"You were out bleeding out," she said. "But then -" she grabbed my wrist. "Kratos? Cruxis? You _knew_ all this, and said nothing?"

"I didn't want to believe Kratos would turn on us," I hissed. That much was true. "I hoped - I don't know what I hoped. But what would you have said? If I came out with it all - that Cruxis is playing both worlds against each other? That there _is_ no Goddess? Would you have believed me?"

"Of course not," Raine said at once. "Then... No. I need a moment."

I nodded, easing back onto the bed.

What would I have done in the same situation? Throw a tantrum, probably - accuse them of lying, of being insane, of playing some kind of elaborate prank on me. It was an impossible thing to ask her to accept; but Raine had dealt with so many impossible things over the course of the last twenty-four hours; I wondered how I ranked. There would be so many questions, and I would have to decide which ones to answer.

"This story," Raine said, "how does it end?"

"There are different versions," I said. "Different endings." Technically true. "I thought I could help change things, but - everything keeps happening the same way. I don't know. I don't believe in fate, but..."

"What was it you wanted to change?" asked Raine.

"Palmacosta," I said at once. "In the story, it's completely destroyed. Five hundred _thousand_ people."

"What happens?"

"It's complicated. You saw those big tree roots in the Tower?" Raine nodded. "They're remnants of the Giant Tree. The Great Seed, Undine mentioned it. It's being used to hold the two worlds in limbo. When all the mana links are broken, the thing goes insane and absolutely wrecks shop in Palmacosta. Sorry," I interrupted myself, squeezing the bridge of my nose, "I'm not trying to be crass, I just - don't really know how to say stuff in a way that sounds convincing."

"And what happens now?" she asked after a long pause, gesturing around at the room.

"With any luck?" I blew a lock of greasy hair out of my face. "We change things."

We lapsed into silence.

"You must understand how... impossible it sounds."

I nodded. "Yeah. If you want to think about it another way... I'm like an idiot clairvoyant. I know some stuff, but not nearly all of it."

"Where are you from, really? I doubt you even remember the lie you told me."

I laughed. "You're right, I don't. I'm from a place called Earth. It's a lot like here except there's no mana or magic."

Raine blinked at me. "No mana? Then how..."

I shrugged. "I don't know. I genuinely don't know. I'm not a biologist. I didn't even _graduate college,_ Raine. I'm a bartender."

"I..." Raine shook her head again. "I really can't tell. I feel like a fool. Even now you might be making a fool of me and I wouldn't know."

"Cross my fucking heart, Raine," I swore. "I know. I _know_ you probably won't or can't believe me because it's _insane_ . You know I tried to -" I swallowed uncomfortably, and continued, "I thought I was dreaming. I thought I was insane. I'm still not sure. I try not to think about it, honestly," I admitted, "because if I do, for too long, I start losing it. I just - _this is what I think is true_."

"Breathe," Raine said. "Slow, deep breaths. You're shaking."

"I'm... fine," I wheezed. "Sorry. I got winded there."

"I believe that you believe what you're saying," said Raine, and coming from her it was practically comforting. "And I'm reasonably sure that I'm real."

"But you _would_ say that."

"I don't have the energy for this, Edie."

"Right," I agreed, massaging my forehead. "Sorry."

"You can be sorry later," Raine said. "Now. Tell me _everything._ "

* * *

I did not, in fact, tell Raine _everything._

But I gave her the broad strokes - the big picture items, half because I thought it was the right thing to do and half because I couldn't remember the second half of the game in any detail. The first had always stuck so solidly in my mind because it followed the standard pattern - do trials, get stuff, save the world. After that - well, things got murky. There had been something about the Pope, I knew that, and I remembered the Ymir fruit, if only because the whole puzzle had enraged me.

I didn't talk people, either, beyond Yggdrasill. I might have, before all this, but things had changed. I understood now that the people I knew from fiction were a kind of caricature; not a cruel or inaccurate one, but not representative of their whole person. Raine was the Professor, a hot teacher archetype - but she was also a confused and frustrated young woman, trying to understand a world that had lied to her in so many ways. 

I was her _senior_ by at least six months.

Regal, Presea, Zelos - they all deserved genuine relationships with other people. I was ruined, on that front, but Raine didn't have to be.

The thought crystallized as I sat there on guard, Raine in fitful slumber.

It'd been lurking in my peripheral - a nasty, sneaking little thing, and now it was at the forefront of my mind. 

I could never really be friends with any of these people.

I'd lied to them time and again, about me, about them - about everything. 

And I was a kind of accidental voyeur. I'd inserted myself into their lives, and I had done it, at first, because I thought it'd be _fun_ . I wasn't the person they thought I was, and I would never be; I would always know too much. When the truth came out, they would wonder - were those moments of camaraderie real, or staged? They would never be sure. _I_ would never be sure. Nothing that came from it would be healthy or good.

I felt sick.

I had followed them. I'd let Colette suffer; I'd let the others suffer, too, all for some imagined future.

I should have spoken to Kratos. I should have stopped Colette. I should have _done_ something. I'd have to start now; I wouldn't ever be able to make it up to them, not now, but I could try and make things easier on them, on Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. I wasn't sure I wanted to go home, after everything, but maybe that'd be the best.

Lloyd and the others didn't need any more fake friends.

* * *

Genis woke first. Raine answered his questions while I rifled through what remained of our packs. There was a little food left, some crackers and dried fruit, but it wasn't as if the room had a kitchen. There were no windows, either, and we'd tried both doors. It was a lavish prison, but it was still a cell. 

Raine had decided not to tell Genis or Lloyd - not now, at least, and definitely not everything. I warned her that Colette would remember - that she was conscious. Raine had then pointed out that Colette was used to keeping secrets - which wasn't a pleasant thought, but it was true. Colette would do what Raine told her, and I wasn't going to argue. It was nice, having someone else make the hard decisions.

Genis ate and drank, and Raine and I hovered. We were both waiting for some kind of meltdown, but Genis was either still in shock, or this was how he handled things. He hadn't sustained any serious injuries, at least; Kratos hadn't targeted him, not once, and I hoped Genis didn't realize that. I had no idea how he was coping, and he wasn't in the sharing mood.

He kept looking at Lloyd, like Lloyd might not wake up, no matter how many times Raine reassured him otherwise.

Lloyd, Raine and Genis had seen Yggdrasill. Lloyd had taken a lance through one shoulder, shattering bone and severing muscle, and the entire right side of his body had burned in the attack. But Raine was a miracle-worker, and Lloyd was alive. His right arm and pectoral were a mess of healing burn scars, but that was normal, Raine said.

"Magical weapons and injuries impede the healing process," she said, giving an aside glance at my sternum and shoulder. "It may take days for the scars to respond to treatment, and until then he'll have to take care not to damage the tissue. It's remarkable, really; without Boltzmann's techniques, he would have died hours ago. You and Sheena as well. If we hadn't met her - if she hadn't been able to make a pact with Undine..."

"Not worth thinking about," I said, squeezing her arm. "Eat something. You're way too pale."

Genis kept himself busy; he dumped a potted plant out onto the floor, lit a fire in the stone urn, and soon he was frying bacon on an upturned ornamental shield. 

"How come there isn't smoke?" I asked, peering over him with great interest.

"It's a magical fire," Genis said, "it's consuming mana, not wood or dry plant matter."

"What? How come we don't do that all the time?"

He gave me a wan smile. "It's too much work to do a fire spell that big for that long. You'd knock yourself out before you got anything done. This one doesn't have to be big. Do you want it crunchy?"

I laughed helplessly. "No, I'm not hungry."

By the time Sheena woke, Genis had moved on to griddle-cakes. 

"What's that smell?" she slurred, lifting herself unsteadily by one elbow. "Raine? I feel dizzy."

Raine was at her side in a moment, propping up the patient with overstuffed lavender pillows. "Don't strain yourself. Have some water."

"My head is killing me," Sheena groaned. "I can't... this is the Triet place, isn't it? I came here back when I was still trying to kill you. Colette!" She sat bolt upright, eyes suddenly wide in fear and concern - and then she puked. I hoped absently that Yuan wasn't emotionally attached to the decor - particularly the potted plants. Raine wrestled Sheena back down onto the pillow, administering a cold rag and a healing spell. "Is she okay? Is she-"

"She's still alive," Raine confirmed. "She isn't responding to stimuli, but if a Cruxis Crystal at all resembles an Exsphere..." She glanced at me. "It's a problem for later. Once Lloyd wakes up, Edie and I are going to speak with the Renegades. We can't be sure they'll help us, but you're in no condition to fight."

"I'm fine," Sheena insisted. "I just - there's something wrong with my eyes."

"Can you describe it?" asked Raine. Her tone was matter-of-fact, like this was a checkup rather than a triage, and I could see Sheena relax.

"It's kind of... like a flickering. And it's really dark. I can't make stuff out."

I left them to it. I devoted myself, instead, to examining the perimeter. We had already tried the doors - they were solid metal slabs, without windows or handles, so they were out. The walls felt substantial, too, like treated concrete hidden behind laminate - I was no architect, but there would have to be ventilation, wouldn't there? A fire exit? I was sure we were being monitored somehow, but I didn't see any cameras.

I spent a productive hour removing wall ornaments and peering under, behind and around the furnishings. I pulled the rug out from under the table; I overturned the chairs, unhoused the rest of the potted plants, shook out the volumes on the bookshelf and even pried the upholstery off the couch. I wasn't even really looking for bugs - I was bored, and annoyed, and ruining things was fun. The others didn't stop me; why would they? None of us were in the mood to be good houseguests.

Lloyd was, predictably, the last to wake.

"Ugh, where are we?"

"Took you long enough," Sheena joked. She was sitting up unaided now, at least, and nibbling at a kind of breakfast sandwich. Not much had survived the battle beyond flour, bacon and salt, but it wasn't half bad.

Lloyd groaned. "Is everyone okay? Is - Colette?"

Colette hadn't moved since I woke up. I wasn't even sure she was breathing. But she was standing up, and she was somewhere behind those eyes.

"She's going to be okay," Raine said, "but right now we're all still in a great deal of danger. Do you recognize this place? It's the Desian base north of Triet."

Lloyd looked around. "What? The guys who saved us - _Desians?_ "

"Not quite."

* * *

It was another hour before a guard came to retrieve us.

He paused in the doorway, brought up short by the state of our elegant suite. It was impossible to tell his expression beneath the helmet and stoic demeanor, but I liked to think it made him nervous. They hadn't disarmed us - probably because none of us were in any state to fight - but he was still a man, alone, in a room of very unhappy people. I smiled at him.

"I'm glad to see you all awake," he said at last. "Please, come with me to the next room. Our leader wishes to speak with you." 

Raine and I had been very clear with Lloyd, especially, and so we followed demurely, Lloyd at the middle of our formation and within arm's reach. I was hopeful; I wasn't stupid.

Yuan's office was suspiciously empty of armed men. He and Botta stood near one another, in a conversation that cut off the moment we entered. A curtain of hair obscured Yuan's face, but Botta turned at once, regarding our injuries with a critical eye. 

The door closed noiselessly behind us.

Yuan turned. He had his arms folded at his chest - and I was annoyed to see both hands entirely intact. I supposed that if Raine could resurrect Sheena, Yuan might be able to grow two fingers back - but now I was doubting myself. _Had_ Yuan been the assassin in the foothills? 

"You're finally awake," he said. 

"Yes," Raine agreed, as if we were foreign dignitaries and this was a planned meeting. It didn't matter that she was filthy and unkempt; she had poise. "I'm glad we're finally able to speak. My name is Raine Sage," she offered a hand. 

"I know who you are," Yuan said, declining to shake it. A bad start. "Do you know why you're here?" Ah, that old chestnut.

"You rescued us from the Tower," Raine said, cooly, "and successfully prevented Cruxis from taking a new body for Martel. That is the purpose of the Renegades, is it not?"

Yuan snorted. "In part." He nodded to Sheena. "There is another world beyond this one that competes for mana. At this moment, Sylvarant and Tethe'alla are locked in a cycle of growth and decay. Its initial purpose was to prevent the growth of magitechnology, but Cruxis' ultimate goal is to revive Martel."

"The oracles and arranged marriages," Raine nodded. "It all seems meaninglessly drawn out and complicated."

"Yes. And the one who created this twisted world was Cruxis' leader, Yggdrasill."

Genis got there first. "What? But then Mithos-"

"Mithos and Yggdrasill are the same person," Raine guessed. "How could he have survived this long?"

"How did you know that?" asked Yuan, suddenly sharp and off-balance. 

"We spoke to Undine," Sheena said, glaring at him. "She told us how Mithos the Hero tricked the Summon Spirits into binding the two worlds together."

"Tricked," Yuan made a face. "Yes, I suppose you could say that. The Great Seed is all that remains of the Giant Kharlan tree. Both worlds are dependent on what little mana it produces. Mithos - Yggdrasill - has devoted the remainder, as well as the mana of Derris-Kharlan, to preserving what's left of Martel. She isn't a goddess, or anything of the sort."

"Neither are the Angels of Cruxis divine beings," Botta said. "They are half-elves who have transformed by means of a particular type of Exsphere called a Cruxis Crystal; the very same worn by the Chosen."

"They're half-elves, too?" asked Sheena, bewildered.

"Yes," agreed Botta. "Some of the Desians, as well as Cruxis and ourselves, are half-elves."

"Why are the Renegades trying to stop the revival of the g - of Martel?"

"Because," said Yuan, "Martel's resurrection would consume the Great Seed. Both worlds would die of mana depletion."

"Why would Mithos do something like that?" asked Genis. "Doesn't he care?"

"MIthos doesn't care for anything or anyone except Martel. He despises all living things."

"You sound like you know him well," Raine suggested. Yuan ignored her.

"Unfortunately," Yuan continued, "the Chosen has completed the angel transformation. She's now a lethal weapon whose only goal is self-preservation. We wouldn't dare lay a hand on her." He gave Colette a surprisingly hateful look. "But it doesn't matter. The Chosen's death would only have delayed Yggdrasill. We have a more direct solution at hand."

Yuan motioned in the air - and the doors opened, the room suddenly swarming with soldiers.

"Take Lloyd," he ordered, "see that he's disarmed. Dispose of the others."

"What?" Lloyd cried, startled by the sudden descent into hostility. "What's so special about me?"

"That's none of your concern," said Yuan. "Get him."

Yuan was a lot saner than Mithos, but he was still pretty far from being grounded in reality. He was like Kratos - so old that everyone else seemed like children. He wouldn't trust us with anything, not unless we strong-armed him into it. 

To hell with it.

" _TIME OUT!_ " I bellowed.

The Renegades were momentarily arrested - you could get a long way with affected authority and a good tone. 

"This! Is! Stupid!" I declared, stepping forward and aiming an accusing finger at Yuan. "All you're doing is alienating useful allies. You and I want the same thing; to stop Mithos. So get your head out of your ass and listen to me for five minutes; Sheena is a summoner. She's already made a pact with Undine. I'm a half-elf, and I can use a sword. And do you know who taught me? Who _specifically_ made me get up at dick in the morning to practice? Kratos!

"He could have killed us, but he didn't. I've fought you, and I know you're a lot slower than he is. So you can try to take Lloyd, but we'll lay you out on the goddamned floor, and you'll be out a hostage and down a summoner. You can work with us, or against us. _Which one is it?_ "

My finger was inches from his nose - he was going cross-eyed.

The silence stretched.

Botta started laughing - an involuntary bark of amusement that grew into a loud, round belly laugh. Yuan slapped my hand out of the way, and glared at Botta.

"Shut up," he said.

Botta did.

"I easily could have killed you," Yuan hissed at me, finally making eye contact. I hadn't realized it, but he had been avoiding me all the time we had been in the same room. 

" _And_ I want my sword back," I tried, exhaustion long fried the circuits that regulated good, healthy fear. 

"Put your weapons down," Yuan ordered. " _Your_ sword?"

"I won it by rite of combat," I argued.

"What's going on?" asked Lloyd, uncertain.

"Talk," Yuan snapped at me.

"You want to stop the cycle," I said. "That means breaking the mana links. We can do that. You want Lloyd, I don't know why," I lied, "but I'm guessing it's because of his Exsphere. That's fine. But right now, our main concern is Colette. We can help you, but we're not doing it like this, and we're not doing it under duress. My proposal; you let us go take care of Colette, and when she's cured, we'll work with you on the Great Seed thing. Deal?"

Yuan stared down at me, his expression strange and unreadable - he was annoyed, uneasy, yes, but there was a vague fondness, too. 

"Sir?" prompted Botta.

Yuan turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose.

I glanced back at the party. Genis shrugged at me. Raine gave me a bewildering thumbs-up.

"You'll need to go to Tethe'alla," Yuan said at last. "I doubt any scholarship remains on the Chosen's condition, but if it does, it will be in the hands of the Royal Family, or at Sybak. This is a purely temporary arrangement," he said, turning back to us with a scowl on his face. "If Cruxis reclaims the Chosen in this state, I'll have no choice but to seize Lloyd as collateral. I won't have your idiocy compromise our plans."

Lloyd mumbled something under his breath - Genis elbowed him.

"So what now?" asked Raine. "We have no means to travel to Tethe'alla, and we've lost a great deal of our supplies."

I noticed she was careful not to mention our physical state - and how ill-suited we were to fight back if Yuan changed his mind.

We _would_ fight back, and we'd win - but it'd be really, really nasty.

Yuan exhaled, a sound of compressed fury. 

"Botta. Have the Rheiards prepped. Jonas, see that they have what they need. _Within reason_ ," he added. "Cruxis will be able to track the Chosen by monitoring her mana signature," he continued. "I'll do the same. If I suspect the Chosen is in danger of being taken as a vessel, I _will_ intervene, and we won't be having this conversation again. Miss Fujibayashi." Sheena startled. "I'll send a representative to Mizuho. Make contact when you've arrived safely. Am I clear?"

Sheena nodded. 

"What about the King?" she asked, hesitant to speak up. "If I return to Mizuho and Colette's still alive..."

"That's your problem," said Yuan. "You," he snapped his fingers at one of the waiting soldiers, "get them out of my sight. Have them out of the base by tomorrow morning at the very _latest_."

* * *

The Renegades weren't the sort to question orders. They ushered us to a new room - one with an ensuite with showers, one a more respectable distance from Yuan's office, and left us to it.

"I can't believe that worked," said Sheena, once we were left alone.

"Yes, neither can I," said Raine, giving me a long look. "Do you know him?"

"The leader? Not at all," I said, honestly. "I ran into him when me and Lloyd were doing our jailbreak, but that's it. I'm surprised as you are," I paused, "but, you know, gift horses and all that."

"Hm."

"So - are we really going to Tethe'alla?" asked Lloyd.

"Seems so," I said. "I feel like he could have given us more of a lead than 'look somewhere in these two big cities'."

"Meltokio is huge," Sheena agreed, "something like six million people. Then... I'll write you a letter of introduction with the King," she said, looking thoughtful. "If it's got my name and seal on it, you should be granted an audience right away. I'll explain everything that's happened. If anyone can help, it'll be the Royal Family. The Imperial Research Academy is under their control _and_ they have one of the biggest libraries in Tethe'alla."

"You're not coming?" Genis asked, frowning.

"I have to go to Mizuho," Sheena said. "I need to tell my people what's been happening. If things go badly, the crown might declare Mizuho an enemy of the state. It's happened before," she admitted. "My people need to be prepared."

"That... doesn't mean war, does it?" Lloyd asked.

"Nah, you can't go to war with Mizuho," Sheena smiled. She was looking much better now, with a bit of food and rest and extra healing. "They'd never be able to find it. But we have people in all kinds of places, and it could be dangerous for them if things changed suddenly. Meltokio has a huge standing army," she continued, "so we need to give people time to get out while they can, just in case."

"Hey, what you said about Kratos," Lloyd blurted, frowning at me. "What'd you mean? About him teaching you?" _Is he really our enemy,_ Lloyd was asking.

"You saw him. He was pulling his punches," I said. 

"He nearly killed you," Raine pointed out.

"I bounce back. Anyway, why would he bother teaching me if he was gonna kill me? Same with you. If he wanted us dead, we'd be dead. So why are we alive?"

"Oh," Lloyd nodded. "Yeah. That's... weird."

"He was gonna take Colette," Sheena argued. "He's our enemy."

"He stood there for five minutes talking at us," I disagreed. "He could have just taken her. Why bother telling us who he was? Remiel did it because he was stupid and wanted to gloat, but Kratos isn't like that."

"So... He might really not be our enemy after all," Lloyd brightened. And then he dimmed again. "But he was lying to us from the start."

Raine gave me a significant look. I grimaced at her.

"I was too," I said, at last. 

"Huh?"

"I'm not a scholar," I admitted. "I'm a bartender. Well, I'm more of a thief, now, but before that I was a bartender. I don't even have a degree."

"I knew it!" Sheena burst, "I knew you were some kind of spy!"

I made a face at her. "I'm not a spy! I'm just a liar! There's a difference."

"I knew," Raine spoke up. "Edie and I talked not long after we arrived in Palmacosta."

"But... you're still our friend, right?" asked Lloyd.

My heart broke.

"Of course I am," I said, "if you'll have me."

Raine looked at me again, her expression unusually soft. 

"I suppose we must," she said. "It's too late to be rid of you now."

Lloyd hummed as he reorganized his things, Kratos' betrayal somewhat soothed by my comparatively petty transgressions. It wouldn't last long - whatever his intentions, Kratos had hurt him badly. Fighting strangers or people you didn't like was bad enough - attacking a friend was a lot harder. Kratos _had_ nearly killed me, and might have done, if the circumstances had changed. There was no forgetting that much blood, and that much pain. Lloyd couldn't ignore it forever. He'd have to come back to it, sooner or later, and it'd hurt.

I was going to be seeing Sheena in my dreams.

I kept seeing that bolt go through her temple, over and over, and I couldn't quite believe she was standing here now, upright and breathing and all there. Colette was almost easier to handle, because I'd been _expecting_ it - but Sheena? Sheena wasn't supposed to get hurt. She wasn't supposed to die.

I could still remember the feel of Remiel's ruined throat beneath my hands. I could still remember the strange, bloodless gore of his crumpled head.

It'd be a long, long time before any of us forgot the Tower.

* * *

Botta came to us later in the evening, acting as chaperone for the small fortune in clothes, medicine, food and other miscellania. Most of it had clearly been brought from Triet; there was little produce besides dried chiles and the hard citrus that grew near the oasis, but there was plenty of grain and fat and spices, and even a new pan, in deference to the ornamental shield we had ruined in the other room. Everything that could be replaced without great hassle had been, including my bag.

We were in altogether better shape - we had bathed, scrubbed, laundered what could be laundered and disposed of what couldn't - but we were far from recovered. I hadn't slept since that morning, paranoid that our truce was actually a ruse, and Sheena had developed a splitting headache and could hardly open her eyes. She was unconscious now, and under Raine's near-constant care.

But Botta had one more gift, and it was one that soothed my worries a little.

"My sword!" I said, astonished. The sheath was different - made for the weapon, rather than repurposed - but there was no mistaking the hilt or the blade itself. It was fashioned after a gladius, with no prominent guard or crossbar, and the blade was made of a very dark metal. In some light, it looked black - and in others, a deep purple. _This_ was an enchanted weapon. "I was only mostly kidding."

Botta looked amused. "Consider it a token of our good faith."

I raised an eyebrow. "And insurance against Cruxis."

"It is an elemental weapon, yes."

"I appreciate this," I said, seriously. 

"I will let Yuan know."

I frowned. "Right. If that's all..."

Botta nodded. "See that you are ready by 0600 hours. You will be escorted to the hangar."

"How _are_ we getting to Tethe'alla?" asked Genis, still busy picking over the food supplies.

"You'll be given Rheairds," Botta said. "Aerial vehicles."

"What? We'll be flying?" asked Lloyd, delighted. "Seriously?"

"...Yes," Botta continued. "The artificial nexus used for travel between worlds is located at a point some five hundred meters above sea level, directly above the facility. The Rheiards are equipped with flight computers that will permit you to navigate the rift."

"Wow," said Lloyd, a dreamy look in his eyes. "We're gonna fly!"

"...Then I will take my leave," said Botta - and that he did.

"Aerial vehicles," echoed Genis. "Like skyships! What fuel do they even use?"

"Mana," guessed Raine. 

"Is Sheena going to be able to travel?" I asked, frowning.

"She'll be fine," Raine said. "You have to understand that all healing magic is a kind of accelerated natural process; the phantom effects can linger, especially in cases of extreme injury. Sheena's injury was not only extreme but traumatic, and I had to treat her quickly. She may have intermittent headaches and blurred vision for some time, even with regular treatment. But it seems," she said, glancing down at the collection of medicine, "that the Renegades have much improved on standard gel recipes."

"Lemon _and_ pineapple. Yum."

"Don't eat them," Raine sighed. "At _any rate_ , they'll be useful with pain management."

"...Hey, you know how I cut off that one guy's fingers?"

"'Yuan', yes," she gave me an odd look. "You're wondering how he could have regrown them?"

"Not that," I said. "When I cut them off, they didn't really bleed. And neither did Remiel or Kratos."

Raine nodded. "Yes, I was thinking about that, too. They almost resembled embalmed bodies. Knowing now that Cruxis Crystals are merely a kind of Exsphere - are you familiar with the Ghosa monks?" I shook my head. "Of course not. They were early Martellians; I believe the Tower of Mana was built on the ruins of the Ghosan monastery. The Ghosa monks practiced something called 'self-mummification'; the intentional use of extreme asceticism to mummify the body while still alive."

"Oh! Geez."

"Of course," Raine continued, "the discipline and knowledge necessary to suspend the person in a near-death state for such a length of time was extensive, and modern scholars believe those that succeeded had more to do with climate at the time of the attempt than the attempts themselves. Failures were attributed to insufficient faith," she explained. "But it's likely colder temperatures helped preserve those bodies."

"Okay. So the Cruxis Crystal..."

"May allow for a similar kind of preservation through deprivation. You recall how weak Colette became after each seal was opened?" I nodded. "I can only assume it's in that period that the body undergoes rapid transformation."

"Yikes. But," I paused, "I've _seen_ Kratos bleed."

"...Yes," Raine agreed, glancing at Lloyd. He wasn't listening. "I'm not sure about that. He also ate and drank, and to my knowledge, made use of..." I made a face. "Yes. Well, I don't know. It may be that the transformation allows the user to control their body chemistry. It may be some other form of magic entirely. Short of a thorough hands-on examination..."

She glanced at Colette.

" _Raine_ ," I scolded.

"I wasn't suggesting that," she snapped, and then sighed. "I worry. Even if we can return her mind..."

"Can we restore her body," I muttered. "Yeah. I don't know."

I wish I remembered.

"We're both overtired," Raine said at last. "You should rest. I'll keep watch."

"I'm fine," I insisted, "you've been working all day. Please," I said, when she protested. "Sleep. I'll keep an eye on the kids."

Raine nodded, rubbing at her eyes. 

"Wake me if there's any problem."

* * *

"Colette?"

No response. I checked, again, that the others were asleep.

"Um. If you can hear me. I'm sorry. I'll make this right."

Her eyes were two points of dim red light in the darkness. She was like a waking nightmare; but I never would have said it out loud, not if she was still listening. 

"I still have your journal. I haven't opened it. I won't."

I dug my socked feet deeper into the plush carpet. I wished for a stone floor; I could have felt grounded there.

"We'll get you back soon, and you'll be able to tell your own story. I promise."

I hoped it was the truth.

* * *

We roused the boys a good hour in advance; Raine, Sheena and I had already been at work checking and double-checking the supplies, and always there was someone on guard. Under different circumstances I'd have felt great about how things were going - we'd gotten a chance to rest, allied ourselves with the Renegades, and between Raine and I, we had a tentative plan. But it was hard to feel good about anything with Colette standing there, dead-eyed and still.

Things _had_ worked out, if you had something to compare it to - but Colette was still suffering. _Sylvarant_ was still suffering. We'd barely made it over the hurdle and there was still so much track left to run.

"Were you up all night?" Raine asked, quiet.

"Couldn't sleep," I shrugged. "How are we going to... transport Colette?"

Raine grimaced. "She's followed us so far. If there was an issue with the transportation, I'm sure they would have said."

We had arranged ourselves in marching order when the escort - three guards, minimally armed - arrived. Lloyd was again at center formation, just in _case_ , but the Renegades were all very cordial and none of them seemed nervous in a way that might presage an ambush. 

Raine pointed out that the Renegades had passed up a dozen opportunities to pick us off - they'd given us food, they'd armed us, they'd helped us move our things - but nothing would reassure me. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or the stress, but I put it down to Yuan. He had an obvious tendency towards the dramatic; I worried he'd try for another big standoff, like the one he'd fumbled yesterday, just to put the fear of god into Lloyd. That was the thing about gloaters - you could never rely on them to act sensibly.

We followed our escort. 

The hangar was enormous.

It was a dome, fully five or six stories tall, made up of some thousand tesselating panes of glass and metal, apparently unsupported by pillars or buttresses. We came up through a protruding stairwell, like we were coming onto the roof of an apartment building. The view through the hangar door was spectacular, high above the Triet desert and shimmering with heat, although the hangar itself was quite cool. Above us, suspended in a network of metal catwalks, gleamed the Rheairds.

They were smaller than I'd anticipated. I'd expected small planes - these were like jet skis with wings stuck on.

"Have you ever used a wing pack?" asked one of our guides. Sheena nodded - and the rest of us shook our heads. I snorted. _Of course we haven't._ "I'll demonstrate. This button here will allow you to compact the Rheaird for easy transport. Like this -"

They approached one of the Rheairds hovering low on the scaffolding, held the little red case - hardly bigger than their palm - and pressed a small button where a fastener might be. The Rheaird, a machine of shining steel and fiberglass, imploded. There was no other word for it; it crumpled in on itself, shrinking and warping until it was a pinprick, and then nothing. It all happened in less than a second, and I stared at the sudden vacuum, unaccountably disturbed. 

"Whoa!" Lloyd exclaimed, voice bouncing on the high walls, "That's so cool!"

"And to return it," the Renegade continued, "you simply open the wing pack and press the button again."

The air split, the Rheaird blossoming into view like some strange flower.

"Can I try?" Lloyd asked, grinning.

"How does that work, I wonder?" asked Raine, as Lloyd summoned and dismissed the Rheaird to Genis' rapidly waning amusement.

"Space magic?" I said, too tired to really appreciate it. "What happens if you accidentally press the button, I'd like to know."

"Surely there's a precaution taken against that," Raine sniffed. "Lloyd, Genis, that's enough."

There was a brief demonstration of how to control the Rheaird - a pedal for acceleration, a pedal to break, a yoke to steer - all presented to us as casually as if we were gearing up to do go-karts at an amusement park.

"It's more or less idiot-proof," explained our guide. "It can sustain a cruising altitude of anywhere from one to five miles, depending on the weather conditions. At speed, it travels about 500 miles per hour, but the flight computer does cap at 600; it's difficult to gauge speed while you're riding, so the Rheaird will go into automatic depending on the environment and where you're trying to land. 

"Units close to one another can be synced up - that's this button here - if you'd like to travel on autopilot or in close formation. It's not recommended that you fly in extreme weather conditions, for visibility, but that's about it. Any questions?"

I raised a hand. "Do they need charging?"

That was the main thing. If we had a crash landing I was going to be in a foul, foul mood.

"Yes. They have a maximum flight time of four hours. After that they should be returned to the wing pack and charged for a minimum of fourteen hours," said our instructor. "It's powered by ambient mana. If there _is_ a problem, it should come to a guided landing. Yes?"

"When was the last time someone flew these?" I asked doggedly. "Have they been tested in Tethe'alla recently?"

"The Rheairds are in regular use in Sylvarant," they continued, and they were starting to sound annoyed. "The onboard computers are programmed to adjust to minor fluctuations in the mana flow. _Yes?_ "

"Are you _sure,_ though?"

"It's fine," Sheena promised me, "they really are easy to deal with. I'd never been on one before last year."

"Are they common in Tethe'alla?" wondered Raine. 

Sheena made a face. "Not... really. I've only ever seen one in real life once or twice. Most people travel by liner or airbus."

"What about Colette?" Genis asked. "She can't ride one on her own."

"They seat two," Sheena said, "but... I get what you mean."

"You may find that the Chosen is amenable so long as she is not threatened in any way," suggested one of the Renegades. "The Rheairds can also be controlled remotely, if one is linked in formation with the others."

It was another thirty minutes before we saw our way to mounting up and readying for liftoff. Colette, as they'd predicted, let us guide her onto the back of Sheena's Rheaird, and so we were all present and accounted for. I sat astride a Rheaird with green accents, hands unsure but steady on the yoke, eyes fixed on the tablet-sized screen set into the nose of the thing where another vehicle might have had a windscreen. The UI was all in runelike block letters, big and simple. 

There was a map, a list of the party's Rheairds and their flight statuses, a list of readings for wind speed, temperature, altitude - good god, these things had to cost a fortune! Why had Yuan trusted us with these? 

"Once you're airborne," our guide said, half-shouting over the sound of the engines, "you'll get a prompt to use the dimensional warp. Press the green button for yes. Understood?"

There were nods all around.

"Okay. Doors opening... ready... and you are clear for takeoff!"

* * *

The sky opened to us; blue, and clear, and already bright with the desert sun, although we couldn't feel it. The air above us had a texture to it, a shine like a soap bubble. The warp opened, invisible to us except for the change in the quality of the sky; we breached in moments, the iridescent membrane threading into glittering contrails and then into nothing. The world below us was dark, pre-dawn, still spiderwebbed in artificial light.

Tethe'alla lay beyond; Sylvarant disappeared into the shadow of a cloud, and was gone.

* * *

We didn't crash. 

We landed neatly, perhaps a mile outside of Meltokio city limits, with no injuries or surprises, and stowed the Rheairds. If there was any difficulty, it was in finding a clear place to land; even miles and miles from the city's epicenter grew villages, hamlets, and many, many acres of monoculture farmland. 

I was not a good judge of cities; I had only ever seen New York once from the air, and had marveled at how it seemed to go on and on forever, an incredible, endless stretch of densely-packed humanity - this wasn't that. Meltokio hadn't been built on a grid, but radially, sprawling out from the castle city in unpredictable patterns, spawning odd pockets of green space, boroughs recognizable by some fashion of architecture that had come and gone as the city spread.

I'd once seen archival footage taken in Paris sometime in the late 19th century; some of it was 'restored' to color, or had soundtracks added to give a sound to the crowds and the horse-drawn carriages; boys in sailor suits and women carrying lace parasols juxtaposed by barefooted laborers hauling rickshaws in the muddy streets. Captured there was an odd, golden sliver of history; after the advent of film, but before the first World War.

Meltokio was brighter, of course, a city of richly-painted facades and blue-tiled roofing and tremendous ornamental gardens, of huge crowded avenues and electric street lamps, of cramped tenement housing and industrial smog, but still there was that feeling of the near-present - of teetering on the edge of true, frightening modernity.

"Wow," breathed Lloyd.

"Yeah," agreed Genis. "I bet Palmacosta could fit in here eight times over."

"How can a place _be_ this big?" Lloyd wondered. "Where do they get all the food?"

I shook my head in wonderment. How were we supposed to get anything done in a place like this?

"I'll come with you as far as the gates," Sheena told us, "it should be pretty easy for you to find the castle from there."

"I wish you were able to accompany us," sighed Raine, "but I understand you have other responsibilities. I'll admit to being a little... overwhelmed."

"It's been a big couple of days," I said.

An understatement.

"The Rheairds need to recharge, right?" said Genis, looking thoughtful. "Can't we find an inn somewhere? I know Edie didn't sleep, and you could leave for Mizuho tomorrow instead. _And_ you can tell us everything we need to know about Meltokio." He turned doe eyes on Sheena; and Sheena, tired and overwhelmed as the rest of us, gave in.

"...Yeah, okay," she agreed, smiling lopsidedly. 

I relaxed a little. Everything had been happening so fast; I felt I couldn't catch my breath.

We took a room at a little inn just inside the city walls; Sheena knew one of the staff, and vouched for it as safe and comfortable. 

"It's so expensive," muttered Genis, as we filed in. There were two big beds, and a couch; all together it had cost six times as much as the grand suite we'd taken in Asgard. 

At least our money was still good here. Maybe it was a matter of convenience for Cruxis, or maybe fantasy worlds didn't drift far from the gold standard - I couldn't begin to guess. It had been a long time since we'd had to count our coin; in the last six months or so the biggest problem had been in the dearth of supplies, not our coffers. How much would it have cost to resupply in Meltokio, if the Renegades hadn't stepped up to help? 

"Everything's expensive in Meltokio," Sheena said. "Don't do any shopping past the gate district, everything upwards of here is really overpriced."

"I shouldn't be surprised," Raine sighed. "I wonder if we'll be able to enter the castle at all, dressed as we are. If this is a less affluent district..."

Raine was right; even scrubbed and smelling of roses, we would have no chance of blending in. Our clothes were scruffy and careworn, our armor scuffed, our boots badly in need of polishing; we dressed for practicality, rather than fashion. Now that I thought about it, had I seen even one woman in trousers? Had I seen anyone inside the city walls in patchwork clothes? I didn't think so.

"It... should be okay," Sheena said uncertainly. "Mizuho has always kept different fashions, and adventurers always dress a little differently. The whole city's not like this," she went on, "the entire east side is more like Sylvarant, anyway."

"And I suppose confidence is a factor," said Raine, smiling in my direction.

"Augh," I said, throwing myself on the couch, "It'll be fine. Enough shop talk. God, I'm tired."

"Don't you want the bed?" Sheena asked. "I can take the couch. You and Raine can share."

I shrugged. "Whatever you're feeling. Oh!" I straightened up. "I can't believe I didn't ask. How's Corrine? I haven't seen him since Hima."

"He's okay," Sheena said, absently. "He doesn't like Meltokio much. But yeah, I didn't get a chance to summon him during the fight. I'm kind of glad I didn't," she admitted. "I haven't brought him out since, but he still talks to me sometimes. I was wondering about that, you know. Undine and the Unicorn and Remiel - and even Colette were all able to communicate without actually talking. I wonder what kind of magic that is?"

"A good question," said Raine, relaxing a little as Lloyd and Genis began a more thorough examination of the room. "I think it may be a kind of empathic magic. Healing magic involves quite a lot of interaction between the mana of the caster and the mana of the target; it may be possible to establish a connection between one mind and another using a similar method. And given that Summon Spirits, unicorns and angels are comprised foremost of mana..."

"It's easier for them than it'd be for us?" I guessed, propping my feet on one arm of the couch. "It'd be a useful way to communicate secretly, but it doesn't really sound that secure. With Remiel and Colette... it wasn't like they targeted any one person. We could all hear it."

"That's true," Raine agreed, "but do you remember Clara? Only you and Colette could hear or understand her. Looking back, I think Colette might have been more receptive due to her transformation, while _you_ were more susceptible because of your general psychic vulnerability. Genis and I had more significant mana pools than either of you, but neither of us were able to hear Clara."

"Is that the... thing you were talking about?" asked Sheena. "The transformed woman?"

Raine nodded. "Dorr's wife. She was being used as leverage against him by the Desians. They said something about implanting her with a 'demon seed', but I think her condition was purely to do with her Exsphere."

"Do you think you'd be able to heal her?" I asked, "If we ever saw her again?"

Raine frowned. "I can't be sure. I think, had we removed Pietro's Exsphere, he'd have been in a similar state, but... The transformation was hugely physical. You saw her body; I'm not sure she could recover, even if I was able to negate the influence of the Exsphere. And consider the sustained emotional and physical distress - It's... well, it must be overpowering."

Sheena looked grim. "Yeah. I don't think anyone can recover from that kind of pain. I know... I know a lot of people who still get flashbacks or phantom pains from things that happened years and years ago."

"That doesn't mean it's not worth trying," I said. "You can learn to cope with a lot. But I take your point."

We sat for a moment in contemplative, gloomy silence.

"Do you smell burning?" Raine asked, suddenly breaking the mood.

Sheena sprang up from her seat.

"Lloyd! Don't mess with that, it's a hotplate!"

"Huh?"

"Agh!"

* * *

I was first asleep, hidden on the couch under a lump of blankets, and the first to wake to the sound of birdsong and the clattering of hooves and carts on cobble. It was a long moment before I registered where I was - or even what had happened. I crept to the window, and looked out onto the street below. The world outside was shrouded in pale dawn, streetlamps just beginning to blink out in deference to day.

I sat there for a while, the space between my ears still fuzzy. 

Then I turned and had to muffle a shout - Colette hadn't moved from her spot by the door, of course she hadn't, but I'd still managed to scare myself by forgetting it. 

There was running water in the bathroom, a flush toilet and a mirror; I bathed, something I'd neglected the night before, and spent a little while marveling at my reflection. There were very few mirrors in Sylvarant, and fewer still so clean and regular. 

I looked tired.

The journey had changed me in small ways; there were more scars than I remembered, more muscle - but the person in the mirror was still an old friend. There were the same deep shadows beneath the eyes, the same uneven smile, the same upturned nose; I could almost imagine the ears as costume props. I'd gotten so used to the color of my hair that I had a hard time recalling the original color. It was very long now, brittle from the sun and hard water and wild as ever, and I found that I liked it.

There was nothing I could do to satisfy my vanity - I didn't have the money for cosmetics - but it was good to see myself, and find that I was still me. Despite everything.

I dressed, and cleaned a little of the mess the boys had left near the window, and when the others slept through all of that I crept out of the room and down into the street. I'd spied a coffee house from the window, not far down the road, and it had been so long since I'd had good bakery.

The little shop was open, perfumed by the smell of baking bread and sugar and coffee, and I bought myself hot tea and pastry and ate it in the window, watching the world go by.

I spent entirely too much on sweet rolls and went back only when the dusty blue of the sky began to leech pink and the streets striped in golden light. Raine was awake when I returned, folded up with a book beside the pile of hotel linens I had left on the sofa. 

"You shouldn't go out on your own," she scolded, by way of greeting. 

"I brought pastry," I replied, as an olive branch. 

The others woke as the room lightened, rumpled and yawning. 

"I should go," Sheena said at last, when breakfast had been eaten and the world outside had brightened into day. "Are you guys going to be okay on your own?"

"We'll have to be," said Raine. "Is there any way we can contact you?"

Sheena grimaced. "There's the post office and semaphore towers, but they're pretty expensive. There's an office in Ozette. Near Mizuho," she clarified. "So I'll try to send one after I get back. If you haven't heard from me in a few days, send a message there. I don't know what's going on in Mizuho; I might not be able to see you guys again for a while."

"We're gonna miss you," said Lloyd, all honest affection. " _You're_ gonna be okay, right?"

Sheena nodded. "I'm tough, remember?"

Genis hesitated a moment, and then gave her a tight hug. "Don't do anything stupid," he said as he pulled away, embarrassed.

We packed up and checked out. The six of us went together to the city gates, and there was another round of tearful farewells and promises and encouragements. And then Sheena was gone, walking away from us down the wide road and towards the city outskirts. We had her letter, and her instructions; there was no avoiding it now.

We climbed towards the castle district, just five more bodies in a sea of people.

* * *

"His Majesty is ill, and is not granting audiences."

The gate guard's voice came from deep inside a shiny steel helm; he had his partner were heavily armored, not an inch of skin visible. They had to be _baking_ in this heat; they wore intricately-woven tabards and carried halberds twice their height, and spoke in a way that booked no argument. 

We weren't even at the main doors; the castle was set back from the main thoroughfare, blockaded by what seemed like miles of ornamental hedges and rose gardens and tall black iron fencing. A long, broad avenue was hidden from us behind massive gates woven out of steel vines and enameled flowers; marble dragons laid couchant atop huge stone pedestals, fine claws curled on heart-shaped shields of glittering gold and silver, and topiary beasts gathered at their feet, vegetal heads turned upwards.

We were not the only supplicants being turned away; the vast courtyard was a hive of activity, among them clergy and courtiers and common people, each hoping for an audience.

"But we have to see him," insisted Lloyd.

"I'm sure you do," said the gate guard, patient, "but until His Majesty is well, there is nothing that can be done. The Church of Martel is preparing a prayer ritual to pray for His Majesty's recovery," he continued - I had the feeling he'd told a lot of people this today - "So please, offer your words to the priests there to ensure that he gets well as soon as possible."

Lloyd deflated, and we were moved aside so that the gate guard could turn away another party behind ours.

"Well, dick," I said, with feeling.

"Edie," Raine sighed. 

"What do we do now?" asked Lloyd. "We have to see him."

"I don't know," I said honestly. I didn't remember any of this; I had a faint recollection of Colette running around the castle dressed as a maid, but that was the best I could do. "I could..." I gestured vaguely at the gates. "You know."

"We're supposed to be doing this in an official capacity," chided Raine. "It's not going to help our case if you're found skulking around the castle."

I crossed my arms. "I do not _skulk_." And I wouldn't be caught."

"We could go to that research lab Sheena talked about," Genis suggested. "Or we can go to the Church. They might know more about angels over here."

"The Laboratory is far down by the city gates," said Raine. "Yes, we may as well see the church. It might at least be a learning experience."

Lloyd groaned.

* * *

The Church of Martel was not far from the castle. 

It was the centerpiece of a massive agora, lined with orange trees and thronged with people of sorts; tourists, adventurers, pilgrims, parishioners wealthy and poor. There were miniature chapels, clustered nearby like foothills to a great mountain, but there were also carts and stands, a garden of multicolored awnings and umbrellas; there were souvenirs, and buskers, and young priests stood on apple boxes distributing pamphlets. There was a massive fountain flocked by marble angels, and rows of stone saints holding forth their services.

Pigeons moved in low, dark clouds along the pristine flagstone, scattered occasionally by children or dogs, and on the hour the church bells began to ring. They sang an unfamiliar four-key melody, and marked the time as ten in the morning. Across the city, I could hear other clock towers ringing out the hour, although none as loudly or as grandly as the church bells. 

It was very, very loud.

"It's _huge_ ," said Genis, craning his neck to better take in the spires and minarets of the cathedral.

It _was_ huge, its highest tower a gilded skyscraper; its face a massive rose window and its facade a picture in baroque excess. There was no queue to get inside, only a steady stream of people that moved counterclockwise through the interior. The nave - vast, the ceiling a vibrant fresco cluttered in angels, saints and spirits - was a thing of beauty. Each column was itself a tower of incredible marble statuary, and the central altar a starburst in gleaming gold and bronze.

There were balconies of stone and polished wood, gilt friezes, angels stretched and shining in divine ecstasy. Sunlight scattered in a thousand colors, and the vaulted ceiling seemed itself to glow; there was not time enough in both worlds to admire it all.

"...It's kind of tacky," muttered Genis. 

"It's amazing," said Lloyd. 

"It must have been incredibly expensive to build," observed Raine. 

"It's excessive," I agreed, "but it's already here, so I've decided to enjoy it."

"What a careless attitude," she said, but she was smiling. "I'm surprised. You don't strike me as a great admirer of wealth."

"It's beautiful," I said helplessly, shrugging. "I may not like what it stands for, but it's still beautiful."

Raine nodded. "Yes. It really is, isn't it?"

 _Scrape._ Thump.

We all turned; an elderly priest was already hurrying out into the hall, heavy golden ornaments about his neck jangling as he half walked-half ran. A girl - barely four feet tall, her hair in two pink pigtails, her thin arms covered in scrapes and scars and her sensible, sturdy boots flaking dry mud - was dragging a massive log up the main steps. The log itself was pale and already stripped of bark, but it was easily seven feet long and hard enough to scrape the flagstone.

"Presea," the priest said, "not here, not here. The prayers are to take place in the royal chambers! Please, take the sacred wood to the castle."

I grinned. Our luck was incredible.

Presea stopped in place, processed the order, and nodded.

"Yes."

And without another word, she made an about-turn, hauling the wood back down the steps by its huge iron yoke.

"...She's cute," said Genis, suddenly. 

"Hey, that girl had an Exsphere," said Lloyd, frowning. "Is that a standard custom over there?"

"Yeah," Genis went on dreamily, "she's really cute."

"You're not listening at all," complained Lloyd.

"Excuse me," said Raine, intercepting the harried priest on his way back towards the pews, "are you praying for the recovery of the King?"

The priest smiled. People were always happy for a polite question from a beautiful young woman.

"Yes. The Chosen and the Pope will pray before His Majesty and receive the assistance of Martel."

Lloyd made a sudden sound beside me. 

"He said it'll take place in the royal chambers, right?" he said, when the priest had wandered away again. "Then we just have to pretend to be bringing the special wood or whatever! We can ask that girl if she'll help us. Problem solved." He smiled, delighted by his own brilliance, and Raine gave him a long, hard, incredulous look.

Genis, however, was all in. "Y-yeah! That's a great plan!"

"Might as well try," I said to Raine, who took it in the manner intended.

We caught up with Presea just beyond the stalls and orange trees.

"Hey! Hang on a sec! Um, Presea!" Genis hurried forward, tripping over his own feet. Presea stopped where she was, head turned in our direction, blank eyes empty of any curiosity or alarm.

"Could we have a moment of your time?" asked Raine.

Lloyd didn't wait for a reply. "I'm Lloyd," he said, smiling hopefully, "this is Colette and Edie and Raine and -"

"I-I'm Genis!" 

Lloyd gave Genis a long, bewildered look. Presea looked too, eyes drawn by the sheer volume of Genis' assertion. Genis turned even redder.

"W-would you let us help you carry the sacred wood?" he asked, voice small.

Presea looked on blankly, then turned, taking up the yoke again and beginning back down the street.

"W-wait!"

"I'm sorry, I know this is a bit strange," said Raine, as Presea stopped again, an automaton frozen in the completion of its duties. "But please hear us out. We have a letter we wish to give to the King."

"Our friend's life depends on it!" insisted Lloyd. "But we have a problem because the King is sick, and refuses to see anyone." No one could do sincere like Lloyd. "It would really help us out if we could carry it for you." 

Presea stayed where she was.

"Uh, are you listening?"

"Understood," Presea said, in the same soft monotone as earlier. She released the yoke and stood a little ahead. 

"Um, Presea?" asked Genis.

"Please carry that," said Presea, head turned ever so slightly.

"Oh. Okay!" Lloyd grinned. "Leave it to us!"

I watched as he and Genis tried to lift it - straight up, from the middle - and sighed.

"You _drag_ it, Lloyd, that's what the metal bit is for," I said. "Christ almighty."

"Oh." Lloyd gave a sheepish laugh. "Right."

"Christ almighty?" Raine said to me, as we followed the procession. 

"I tried using Martellian curses," I said, "but it's just not the same."

"So it _is_ a curse."

"That's what worries you?"

She shook her head, smiling. "I can't believe I was ever taken in by you. I must have been a fool."

"Must have been," I agreed, grinning.

* * *

"Wait! Is it not just Presea today?"

The gate guards either didn't recognize us or had changed over; it was impossible to tell beneath the armor.

"Who are you people?" asked the other one.

"We're helping her deliver the sacred wood to use in the prayer ceremony," said Raine smoothly. 

"Today is special," agreed Presea.

The guards exchanged a look.

"All right," said the first one, "you may pass."

And then we were inside the gates.

"Wait, where's Edie?" hissed Genis.

"I'm here," I said, "just invisible. Just in case."

Raine sighed. "I hate to say it, but that's probably a good idea."

"This way," directed Presea; we traveled down the long, tree-lined avenue, hooking right and towards a smaller door that must have been a service entrance. Lloyd followed just behind Presea, hauling the wood, the rest of us behind and around him like a kind of honor guard. We made our way down an unadorned stone hallway, through a larger chamber and into a caged service lift. "The royal chambers are on the highest floor," said Presea. "Please stand clear of the doors."

She pulled a heavy lever, and the lift shuddered upwards.

"Stop humming," Raine hissed, "do you want to be found out?"

"But it's elevator music," I hissed back. She swatted at the air in my direction and caught me on the side of the head. "Ow."

"You're both suspicious," argued Lloyd. "Come on."

We deposited the wood in an antechamber, which opened onto a small stone chapel.

"What now?" asked Lloyd.

"Leave it here," Presea said.

"We can't send her back alone," Raine sighed, "it'd look odd."

"Presea, would you stick with us a little longer?" Lloyd asked.

Presea nodded.

"This must be the family chapel," Raine remarked, stepping further into the room. "It looks much older than the facade."

"It might be connected with the royal chambers, then," I suggested. "Want me to poke around?"

"...Let's go together," she said. "This is going to end poorly, I can already tell."

"Well, yeah, we lied to get in here," muttered Genis. "What'd you expect?"

"But we're here for a good reason!" Lloyd argued. "They'll understand."

We came out onto a wide, lavish hallway; the walls were papered deep red, embossed with red flowers, and the floor was dark, shiny hardwood. There were double doors on both ends; one pair painted blue and gold, and the other richly varnished oak, emblazoned with the Royal crest. It wasn't hard to guess which of the two might lead to the king; the oak doors were guarded, and the others weren't. 

"This isn't an area for servants," said the guard at the door. He was huge, almost comically tall and wearing gilt armor enameled with turquoise; his chestpiece had pearl inlay. His winged helmet, rather than a faceplate, was fronted by an eerily detailed bronze mask with slits at the eyes and mouth. He looked entirely too ornamental, but I could see real mail beneath the handsome plate. "Who gave you permission to come here?"

"We brought the sacred wood," Lloyd said, hilariously earnest. "But then we were asked to aid in preparations for the prayers."

"It was an order from the Pope," Raine agreed.

I had a feeling the guard was frowning beneath the mask. "The Pope?" he said, just a hair uncertain. "Just a moment. I'll ask."

He turned, the doors opening onto a room full of very elegant, bewildered people, and Lloyd - already apologizing - caught him in the small of the back - a surprisingly forceful blow that sent the guard sprawling on front, felled by the weight of his own armor. When had Lloyd learned that? 

The King's chambers were surprisingly humble. The stone floor was cold, uncarpeted except for right around the canopy bed that was the centerpiece; there was a desk, several plain wooden chairs, and a small round table. 

The man himself stood not far away, middle-aged, stately and gaunt. To his left was the Pope - a large, unfriendly-looking man, or maybe I was biased - and to his right was the princess. Two junior priests stood aside, attendant with scrolls and censers. Zelos was practically just inside the door, long red hair pulled carelessly over one bare shoulder. He turned at the noise - surprised, but not alarmed.

"What's going on?" The Pope, staff in one hand and a heavy book in another, was already red in the face. _So much for diplomacy_.

"Good question," said Zelos. "You might wanna call some more guards, His Holiness."

"Wait," said Lloyd, "are you Tethe'alla's Chosen? We need your help!"

" _He's_ their Chosen?" asked Genis - Sheena had neglected to mention Zelos' gender.

"What do you mean 'Tethe'alla's?'" Zelos asked, bemused.

"We've come here from Sylvarant," said Raine, glancing down at the door guard, who was still prone, because I was sitting on him - not that she knew that. "We've come to plead for your assistance."

"These people are from the declining world?" the princess looked around, as if expecting this to be some big joke. 

"Princess, Princess, have no fear," said Zelos, smiling. "Hey, you, what's your name?" He pointed at Lloyd, all friendliness fleeing his expression. 

"Um. Lloyd."

"Lloyd," Zelos repeated. "For what purpose have you come here?"

"We've come to deliver this letter," said Lloyd, emboldened. "It's from Sheena of Mizuho to the King."

The mood changed at once. I had a feeling that Sheena's mission was a supremely secret one - and that her connection to the King wasn't common knowledge. Zelos frowned at us.

"Sheena? What's your relationship with Sheena?"

"Sheena?" echoed the King. He looked slightly out of it.

"Your Majesty," implored the Pope, "please forgive us for causing a disturbance in your presence. I shall -"

"Lloyd," said the King, "give me the letter."

Lloyd nodded hurriedly, and passed over the envelope in big, obvious movements.

The guard groaned.

"People of Sylvarant," the King continued, "I ask that you wait in the antechamber. I will read this letter and consider it."

"Your Majesty-" wheedled the Pope.

"Show them to the Crimson Chamber," the King ordered one of the junior priests.

"Er, yes, your Majesty."

I climbed off the unfortunate guard, and followed.

The priests - flinching all the time as if we were going to turn and attack them - escorted us into another room off the long hall, and, once we were all inside, shut and locked the door. The room was indeed Crimson; the wallpaper was red, the upholstery was red, the curtains were red - even the oil portraits on the walls featured red gowns and red coats. There was a long bench, and chairs, and a parquet floor, in the same deep, deep red.

"Well," I said, making Genis jump, "it's a good name."

"It's kind of creepy," he said. "And don't scare me like that." He turned on Lloyd, visibly upset. "Lloyd, why'd you charge ahead? There's no way they'll think we come in peace _now!_ "

"What was I supposed to do?" asked Lloyd, "They weren't gonna let us in just because we had a good reason!"

"Lloyd has a point," I agreed. "When'd you learn to do that, anyway?"

"...Kratos showed me," Lloyd admitted. "Anyway," he continued, "we did what we promised. If it helps Colette, then I'm okay with whatever happens."

"...I don't like this," Raine said. "They may be preparing to kill us. To them, Colette is an obstacle."

Lloyd nodded, looking at his feet. 

"If things turn out like that, what will happen to Presea?" asked Genis.

Presea, like Colette, had followed us in without comment or protest.

"...Edie can get her out," Lloyd said. "You can do that, right? We have to find some way to let her escape."

"Yeah," I agreed. "But it's not gonna come down to that."

"You think they'll help?" he asked.

"No, I think that if they try to kill us we'll kick their asses. _Excuse me_. Butts."

"I wish you wouldn't hold conversations while we can't see you," said Raine. "It's disconcerting."

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Presea," said Genis.

We waited.

The time dragged. We could hear nothing beyond the paneled walls; no hints about what was going on or what had been decided. I perched on the mantle of the unlit fireplace, hoping for a better view of the hall beyond the doorway; Genis paced, and Raine gnawed at her fingernails. It was a nervous habit I'd never seen from her before - and spoke to the pure, calculated agony of this awful room, without a clock or windows - and everything so, so red.

_Sheena, haloed red, red down my front and in my eyes._

I dug my fingernails into my thighs, and hummed.

"How long is this gonna take?" asked Lloyd, maybe ten minutes later.

"I don't know," said Raine, "but Edie, if you don't stop humming this instant -"

The doors opened; in walked the Pope, four Papal knights, and Zelos.

I stopped humming.

"I am sorry to keep you waiting, travelers from Sylvarant," said the Pope.

Lloyd stood. "You've read the letter?"

"You wanna use Tethe'allan technology to save the Chosen from your side, right?" nutshelled Zelos.

"Colette has lost her soul," pleaded Lloyd. "She'll lose her life as a human if she stays this way."

"But as long as the Chosen lives, our world teeters on the brink of destruction," sighed the Pope. 

Had they really only brought the two knights? We didn't even have to move - they reached for Colette, and in a moment both men were on the ground, grasping desperately at the warped and dented armor of their breastplates. One of them was moaning in pain - she'd hit him hard enough to break bone, and plate armor didn't translate well to easy breathing. I hoped, for her sake, that she had only winded him.

"See?" said Zelos, unmoved, "I told you they had Exspheres. Of course they're powerful."

"My apologies," said Raine, not sounding very apologetic. "I would have warned you, but you didn't seem eager to talk."

The Pope only then seemed to realize that he had closed the door behind him.

"What would you say to making a deal?" Raine continued, "Colette lost her soul because she was being reborn as an angel in order to save Sylvarant. But so long as she remains human, the Regeneration ritual cannot be completed. Do you understand?"

"Hm. So if we save the Chosen, Tethe'alla's saved as well," said Zelos. "Not a bad deal, His Holiness."

"But - that means you'll be abandoning Sylvarant," accused the Pope.

"It's what we've decided. Saving Colette is our priority."

"But abandoning Sylvarant - " protested Genis.

"Raine's right," said Lloyd. "Right now, the most important thing is to save Colette. That's the whole reason we came to Tethe'alla, right?"

"Well?" asked the Pope, "Is there internal discord?"

"No," said Lloyd, firmly. For a moment, he looked an awful lot like Kratos. "We'd like to make a deal. Please, tell us how to save Colette."

Zelos glanced sideways. "Say, Pope, if these guys don't go back to Sylvarant, then it doesn't matter if they're alive or dead. They can't complete the regeneration ritual. So how about this," he said, spreading his arms in supplication to both parties, "I'll go along and keep tabs on them. You get me out of your hair _and_ you get to feel nice and safe. That should be fine, don't you think?"

"I... If you insist, Chosen One," the Pope agreed stiffly. 

"Then - you'll save Colette?" asked Genis, not trusting the sudden change in our fortune.

Zelos grinned. "Well, we'll do what we can. Anyway, I swear on my name as Zelos, The Chosen."

"Fine," said the Pope - and I was really sick of calling him that - "I shall grant you permission to travel in Tethe'alla, but _only_ under the Chosen's observation. Does that satisfy you?" Zelos nodded. "Then they are your problem to deal with."

He turned on his heel to leave - a gesture ruined by the locked door and two incapacitated Papal knights.

"Well," said Zelos cheerfully, once the doors had been opened and the Pope had been shown out, injured soldiers retrieved by yet more soldiers, "That's all settled nicely! _I've_ gotta go take care of some stuff and hash it out with the King, so why doesn't our merry band reconvene later? I trust you kids'll stay out of trouble for a little, right?"

I only remembered in that moment that Zelos was in contact with Cruxis _and_ the Renegades. Had he known we were coming? No wonder he'd taken things in hand so quickly. 

"Where should we meet you?" asked Raine, still very cautious.

"How about the Martel Cathedral?" Zelos suggested, beaming. "Meet you there in one hour? Great. Ciao!"

And we were left alone in the Crimson Room, door unlocked, a new world at our door.

"That guy was really, really weird," said Genis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Title: Things Went Better Than Expected!  
> Chapters with a lot of game dialogue is really boring... Sorry, guys.


	15. Meltokio, Sybak

"Hm. Raine, I should buy a lute."

Raine looked up. She was seated in the shade of a monument to Pietania, who was probably a Chosen, but might have been a saint. There had been a lecture, but it was too hot out for learning. The white paving stones of the Cathedral plaza seemed to fill the air with piercing, dry heat. Children played in the fountain and others clustered in the cool shelter of the church vestibule. Lloyd and Genis had bought everyone ice creams; Presea had accepted hers in mute disinterest.

Now the boys were trying to throw coins into the top of the water feature. The angel at the very pinnacle - Raine had told me her name, too, but I had forgotten it - had her hands held up towards the sky. Local custom said it was good luck; so far the nearest they'd gotten was a glancing blow off one marble forearm.

"And why would you do that?" Raine asked.

"I could make us some money. Busking." I waved out at the breadth of the courtyard. There were at least three street performers in spitting distance; two of them had lutes.

"And do you play the lute?" Raine asked.

I paused. "I play guitar. That's pretty close."

"Mm. And what would you do with the lute, say, in combat?"

"All right, you make a fair point." I grinned down at her. "I should take up a brass instrument instead; then it can double as a bludgeon."

Raine snorted. "You're in a good mood."

I shrugged, flopping down into the patch of shadow beside her. "Things have... well, not gone well," I glanced at Colette, and now Presea, "but they definitely could have gone worse."

"Yes," Raine agreed. "They certainly could have."

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

Raine considered this. "I've tried not to think too deeply on our situation," she admitted. "I'm... still not sure what to make of all of this. Of you - of the Renegades. It all feels so... insurmountable."

"Like how?"

"I suppose, at the beginning," Raine said, "I thought of the Journey of Regeneration as... an unfortunate necessity? An intellectual curiosity? Frank and Phaidra told me about the true nature of the Journey years ago; I suppose at first the reality of sacrificing Colette felt... well, so impossibly far-off and abstract. No Chosen had succeeded in so long, I didn't consider the reality until... Hima, perhaps. 

"You have to understand, I've known Colette since she was an adolescent. She'd always been a dutiful student... not bright, but kind, and hard-working... If Genis hadn't befriended Lloyd, if she hadn't become a fixture in our home... I don't know that I would ever have been able to bring myself to really know her. I resisted it, at first, because I knew early on there was a possibility that I would accompany her.

"I was afraid, that if I allowed her to become real to me, that I would shirk my duty." She laughed, but without much humor. "I suppose I was right. How could I not care for her? And then possibility became certainty, and I lost my objectivity. Even Lloyd saw the cracks," she said. "He saw that something was wrong with the Journey. I think I resisted it for so long because if the Journey was good and right, then... I might be forgiven."

"Colette understood what she was doing," I consoled her. "She never would have blamed you for anything. You know that."

"Did she understand?" Raine asked. "She's only sixteen. And now we learn that the lie of the Journey is only one lie of many - I'm not equipped for this, Edie. I was never an adventurer."

"I don't think anyone would be equipped for this," I said, "I think if you thought you were equipped for this, you'd have lost your mind."

"How do  _ you _ go on?" Raine asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You said you doubted your reality," she reminded me. "I would feel the same. This must be... surreal. I'm not sure I would be able to cope."

"'Course you would," I disagreed. "You'd do what I do and just... keep going. Deal with the problem that's in front of you and try not to think too hard." I blew out my cheeks, a drawn out sigh. "We're all just meat and electricity. It's the whole 'is my red your red' thing. It's... useless to think about it, so I try not to think about it."

"Still," said Raine, "it's an interesting metaphysical problem."

"Fuck metaphysics."

"Edie."

"Make hot, sweet love to metaphysics?" I suggested. She hit me hard for that one. "Ow."

"But it begs the question; if our world is a work of fiction within yours, is there some link between our worlds? Is the story you know secretly some work of history?" I groaned and put my head between my knees. She ignored me. "Hm. Have you ever heard of Niflheim?"

"Noooo?"

"It appears in some of the older pagan Eddas as a kind of world of the dead, or in some translations, a 'world of demons'. In some stories, Niflheim was bound to a book. That book became the sole point of passage between Sylvarant and Niflheim. Those stories predate Martellism, which may mean they predate the separation of the worlds. Maybe the story you know exists as a kind of gateway between our world and yours."

"No, that doesn't work," I said, "it's not, like, one book. It's hard to explain. Look, this is making my head hurt."

"You're not interested in finding out the truth?" asked Raine, incredulous.

"I - well, obviously I am," I said, leaning back and accidentally cracking my head against the monument behind us, "Ow. Of course I am. But at a certain point it becomes... Circular? Pointless to speculate? Look, it's the everything theory of reality - anything can happen, so there's got to be a place for everything to happen  _ in _ . So maybe I'm just someone  _ from _ here who just  _ happens _ to have an extremely specific delusion. Maybe I have brain damage! Maybe I'm dead. Who cares!"

"All right," Raine said, holding up a hand like someone gentling a wild animal. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"Sorry," I sighed, "it's just. Crazy-making."

"Such is the burden of philosophers," Raine smiled.

"Screw philosophy," I said, leaning back. "It's religion that's the real good stuff. People just love certainty."

"It seems very profitable," said Raine dryly, glancing up at the Cathedral. "If you consider the faith of the very wealthy."

"Gotta save their immortal souls, or whatever."

"It's of grave importance. Ah - there he is."

Raine stood; I followed, knees creaking. 

Zelos was easy to spot in the crowd - not just because he had a distinctive look to him, but because people turned to watch him go. He leaned into it, stopping to shake hands and kiss ladies' cheeks and pass coin to sticky children. It was a big plaza with a lot of people, and every one of them seemed to want a piece of the Chosen. It was a long time before he reached us, at that pace.

"Ladies," he said, expansively. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting."

"Not at all," Raine said cooly, "Zelos, correct?"

"Yep, yep," Zelos grinned, arms akimbo. "I'm the great Zelos Wilder. But you can just call me Zelos. How about you, beautiful? I know our little blonde angel is Colette, but I don't think we've been properly introduced." 

Raine didn't look impressed.

"Raine Sage. These are Edie and Presea. Presea is only with us for the moment," Raine said, glancing back, "She helped us enter the castle and got caught up in all of this, I'm afraid. It was left unclear as to whether she'd be allowed to leave on her own; I'm sure you don't need to keep tabs on her as well? 

"Nah, that's no problem," Zelos assured us. "The little one's not from Sylvarant?"

"Ozette," offered Presea - the first I'd heard from her in over an hour.

"Ozette? That village out in - the forest?" Zelos asked. 

"I would like to go home," Presea said, with the same dim persistence.

"Well," Zelos said, understandably unnerved, "The Imperial Research Academy and Ozette are both on the continent across the sea. We can just drop her off when we go." He beamed at us. "That okay with you, little rosebud?"

"Yes."

"Hm. Right," said Zelos. "Anyway, weren't there some guys with you earlier?"

"I'll get them," I told Raine, cuffing her on the shoulder. "You kids get to know one another." 

Raine shot me a  _ very _ nasty look over Zelos' shoulder as I retreated.

I gathered Lloyd and Genis from the fountain - they were half-soaked and had mostly forgotten about the wishing game - and herded them back towards the monument. 

"There you are," said Zelos. "Lloyd, right?"

"Yeah. And this is Genis."

"Lloyd, Genis," said Raine, in a tone of forced calm, "Zelos has gone through the trouble of contacting the Imperial Research Academy for us. We'll be able to leave as soon as you're ready. Presea will be traveling with us for the time being."

Genis started. "Oh! Great idea - I mean, good!"

"Wait, wait, where are we going? I thought the place was in the city!" asked Lloyd, wringing out his jacket as he spoke. 

"That's the Elemental Research Laboratory," said Zelos, "You guys talked to Sheena, right? They only do Summon Spirit stuff."

"Oh. Where are we going, then?"

"To Sybak," Zelos smiled, "it's on the other side of the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge. But we can get there pretty quick on Rheairds."

"How did you know we have Rheairds?" asked Raine sharply.

Zelos blinked at her. "You guys have wing packs, right?" He pointed at her hip - the little red satchel still in place. "Unless you're using them to transport something else."

"No, we have Rheairds," Raine conceded, "I wasn't aware they were so common as to be recognizable."

"Nah, not really," Zelos waved a hand, "but I  _ am _ the Chosen. I got one as a little present way back when those Renegade guys introduced them. No expense spared for little old me," he *-said, wiggling his eyebrows. " _ Anyway _ , time's wasting, gang! Let's hit the road, huh? I know a good spot for takeoff, so you just let your pal Zelos lead the way."

* * *

"Edie, we have a problem."

I was still busy coaxing Colette onto the back of Lloyd's Rheaird when Raine called me over - she and Zelos had been having an oddly intense conversation beside her vehicle. I wandered over - Raine had a serious, unhappy expression that usually meant someone was in trouble, or about to be. I hoped it wasn't me. 

"What's up?"

"You were right to be concerned. The Rheairds haven't recharged at all."

"Wait, what? But they're..." I waved. "Hovering and stuff."

"Yes," said Raine, grimly, "there's still a charge left over from the Base, but it's entirely devoted its power supply to keeping the computer alive. It's the same with Zelos' Rheaird."

"I haven't flown it in ages," Zelos agreed, "So it's got a full charge, but it's not like this is a normal problem."

"It's Sylvarant," Raine said. "We opened the seals on our side and now the mana on this side has depleted. The machines don't recognize it as a viable source of energy anymore; they're not going to recharge unless we provide some external source."

That was annoying - but not really an urgent problem, unless -

"Shit. Sheena."

"Yes. We don't have any way to know if she noticed before she took off."

Sheena. She'd barely been able to see that first day - we hadn't asked. We hadn't  _ checked _ . If -

"Fuck. Her headaches -"

"Were improving, but only marginally. We shouldn't have allowed her to go on her own."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Okay. New plan. Zelos and the kids head for Sybak across the bridge. You and I fly as far as we can go towards Mizuho and look for Sheena. God. If she fell while crossing the water -"

"She has Undine."

"That summon takes time!" I said, too sharply. "She left this morning. How much fuel is left? How much flight time?"

"About an hour," Raine estimated, "Forty-five minutes, at least."

"How far would that get her?" I asked Zelos, who looked nearly as grim as Raine.

"If she left from where you landed? Somewhere over the Strait."

I exhaled. "Boys!" 

Lloyd and Genis, bemused, came hurrying over.

"Listen clearly. Sheena might be in trouble; the Rheairds aren't recharging like they're supposed to, and that means Sheena might have left for Mizuho on an empty tank. She might be in trouble. You guys are going to have to cross on the bridge anyway; we'll take the Rheairds and travel doubled up. That gives us - what, at least eight hours in the sky? That should give us enough time to find her if -" I cut myself off. "We'll find her and meet you guys in Sybak. Got it?"

"Hey, you can't leave us with him!" Genis argued, gesturing at Zelos. "We don't even know if we can trust him! And he's spying on us."

"Watch it, brat -" Zelos started in on him, but we had more important things to worry about.

"But what are you gonna do if you  _ find _ Sheena?" asked Lloyd. "If her Rheaird isn't working, you can't sit the three of you on one."

"I'll walk," I said carelessly, "I'm not sending Raine on her own and Sheena might need her."

"Wait," said Genis. "Then send  _ me _ with Raine! I'm small enough," he said, ears turning pink. He hated being the little one, I knew that; it spoke to his concern for Sheena that he was willing to pitch it as a selling point. Him, Raine and Sheena - they'd fit on one Rheiard. Me? I really  _ would _ have to walk.

"Okay. I'll mark Mizuho on a map, or as near as I can guess it. You guys make a beeline.  _ Don't _ do anything stupid. Give yourself time to land and change over vehicles. Land on the bridge if you have to. How long does it take to get to Sybak? On foot?" I asked Zelos.

"Hm. Two days?"

"Okay. We'll meet you in Sybak, then."

"Are  _ you _ going to be okay?" Raine asked me. 

I smiled thinly at her. "I'll be fine. You guys get going, okay?"

It happened quickly - we got Colette down off Lloyd's Rheaird, consolidated the wing packs into Genis' new rucksack, plotted in the new course, and then they were off. 

"Well," said Zelos, when the vapor trail of Raine's Rheaird had disappeared into the sky, "that was intense."

"Yeah," I agreed.

"I'm guessing this probably violates my 'not letting you guys wander on your own' clause of my contract."

"Yeah, I was hoping you wouldn't realize that."

We both stared at the spot where Raine and Genis had disappeared, slightly overwhelmed.

"Wait, how do  _ you _ know where Mizuho is?" 

* * *

We had left Meltokio late in the afternoon. It would have been fine, had we traveled by Rheaird. We'd have gotten to Sybak before nightfall.

But that wasn't an option anymore.

It probably wasn't my fault. Any one of the party might have sustained injuries in that fight; it was just bad luck that it ended up being Sheena. And we had avoided the initial crash, not to mention a breathless flight from the Renegades - but it still  _ felt _ like my fault. If we had known the Rheairds were going to fail, Sheena never would have taken off on her own. But she did, and now Raine and Genis were gone, too.

I just wanted a minute to breathe.

In Sylvarant, we had spent so much time traveling. There had always been  _ time _ . I'd felt safe. I'd been on edge ever since the tower; there had been moments of calm, here and there, but they hadn't been enough. 

I could feel things falling apart just as I thought - as I'd fooled myself into thinking I had fixed them. Without Raine - without Kratos - I was the only one left to be the Adult. And without Genis around, Lloyd was sulky and grim. Zelos was probably as worried about Sheena as we were; but he was a stranger to me, and I didn't trust him. Presea and Colette hardly counted at all.

* * *

"So," said Zelos, when the quiet had gone on too long, "What's your story, Miss Mysterious?"

"Hm? Why am I Miss Mysterious?" I asked, bemused. 

"Well, you know. You've got the hood. The knives. You know where Mizuho is, but you sure as heck aren't from Mizuho." He grinned. "You weren't at the castle, either."

I smiled. "Wouldn't Miss-terious be better?"

"And now you don't answer my questions," he said. "If we're gonna travel together, we might as well get along. Don't you think we should get to know each other?"

"Okay," I said. "What's your favorite color?"

Zelos' smile crinkled a little at the corners. "You know, I don't think I have one."

"Really? That's weak, I was expecting you to say 'the color of your eyes' or something."

He laughed - a sudden, sharp sound. "Wow, sorry to have disappointed you. I'll do better next time, I promise."

I smiled sidelong at him. "You didn't ask my favorite color."

"Geez, I'm really dropping the ball here, aren't I? What's your favorite color, Miss Mysterious?"

I paused. "You know, I really didn't have a good line for that. I don't know why I prompted you."

Zelos made a face at me. "You know, you're kinda weird. I like that."

"Yes," I agreed, "it's an incredibly relatable and sexy trait of mine."

"All right, I'm not sure how I feel about it anymore."

That made  _ me _ laugh. 

"Okay, that was good. Hm. Comedy or tragedy?"

He squinted at me. "Comedy, obviously. But I can't turn down a good tragic romance. It's just who I am. You?"

"Comedy," I agreed, "I only go in for tragedy if everyone involved is a real piece of work. Okay. Drama or farce?"

"Farce, of course. Do they  _ have _ theater in Sylvarant?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious. "I thought everyone there was still banging sticks and rocks together."

"Oh, yeah," I agreed vaguely, "it's all bellowing and grunting. I only just learned how to walk upright. I'm super proud of myself."

"Okay, okay," he said, "I was just joking."

"Huh? We haven't come up with that yet."

Zelos snorted. "Fine. Favorite food?"

"Smoked salmon. Yours?"

"That was fast. Huh. Croque monsieur."

"Oh, so fancy grilled cheese. A real big-boy food."

"Hey, I didn't pick on yours!"

"Sorry," I said, insincerely. "What is your greatest physical weakness?"

He laughed. "What, so you can use it against me? No way."

"Coward."

* * *

We didn't make camp so much as book a room. The Imperial Road was pockmarked with small villages used to thru-traffic and tourists; there were plenty of little places to stay, if you had the money and the inclination.

"Nuh-uh," Zelos whined, "We're right by a town. I'm not sleeping outside."

"No way," Lloyd argued, "that's like 1500 gald!"

" _ Relax _ , bumpkin boy," Zelos said, "It's my treat! Consider it a little getting-to-know-you-present from your buddy Zelos."

Lloyd deflated a little. "Oh. Fine, if that's how you wanna spend your money."

"Great," Zelos grinned, "then let's talk sleeping arrangements. I was thinking me and the girls in one, Lloyd... well, maybe they have a shed you can borrow."

"Bup-bup-bup," I waved my hands, interposing myself between the boys before Lloyd could burst an artery. "I know it's fun to antagonize Lloyd -" Lloyd made a sound of protest, but I ignored him, "But we're all stressed out and need sleep. We'll split boys and girls, and you guys will get along and not hit each other until tomorrow. Do we have an arrangement?"

"Well, if the lady insists," allowed Zelos, with ill grace. 

I looked at Lloyd, who crossed his arms.

"Fine."

I beamed. "Great." I clapped both boys on the shoulder. "And I just wanted to let you know that if  _ either _ of you disturbs my sleep for anything less than a life-threatening emergency, I'm gonna be really, really unhappy, and no one wants that." I turned to gather the girls - and then paused. "Oh, and I'm a  _ very _ light sleeper."

* * *

I slept badly, and it was no one's fault but mine.

I dreamed of Sheena. I dreamed of Sheena's body at the bottom of the sea, pinned to the sea bed by a harpoon through the temple. And then, with no meaningful transition at all, I dreamed that I was back in my senior year of high school, and hadn't shown up for Calculus all semester, and that the test was today, and I couldn't figure out how to get my jeans on.

I woke up feeling sick, regardless.

* * *

It was a two-day journey, in the end.

Sybak was on the coast; a forest of stately brown-and-blue buildings silhouetted against the serene turquoise of the distant ocean. Even Sybak, a university town, would have dwarfed Palmacosta; the campus was sprawling and busy, miles of roads connecting lecture halls and dormitories and research centers. This was the heart of Tethe'allan academia - a city of scholars and students and more besides.

It was not as large as Meltokio, of course, or as grand - in fact, it had the distinct air of neglect. Its buildings, on the whole, had not been built for their splendor but for their utility. Everything was brown and grey and deep blue; the roads were swept, but there was no greenery or flowers save a few stretches of grassy parkland studded with benches and anemic short-growth trees.

There were a few older buildings that had some style - ancient college halls built of stone and polished hardwood, full of velvet smoking rooms and four-poster beds and excessively ornate doorknockers, but the bulk of the town was modern and plain and dull. The color scheme and general atmosphere was so similar to my alma mater as to give me hives.

"I hate... this city," Presea said, as if forcing the words through her teeth. "Hurry... to Ozette."

"Hey, don't worry," said Zelos, "We'll be in and out in no time. Right, Lloyd?"

"Right," Lloyd agreed.

I kept looking for silver hair, or black, or that familiar lavender robe.

"Come on," Lloyd said, "We're here for Colette."

"Right," said Zelos, "I know just where we're going, so let's get our cute little angel looked at, huh?"

* * *

"Ah! Erm, Chosen One, this man says he has business with you."

There were two men waiting for us in the lobby of the Exsphere Research building.

The assigned researcher had a drippy, nervous look about him. He was human - like a lot of the staff I'd seen so far - with limp blonde hair and a pristine white lab coat. He wore a pair of tiny spectacles, shiny loafers, and the expression of someone with a problem they didn't know how to deal with.

I supposed that problem was the man in the mask.

He had to be from Mizuho. He was built like a professional climber, long-limbed and well-muscled, his back straight and his gaze direct. He wore concealing clothes, exposed only around the eyes and from the wrist down, so that his hands weren't impeded by gloves. The hooded cowl and robe were wine-red, the mask deep grey and gold. His hands were darkly tanned and rough with scar tissue; his eyes were black.

"I am here on behalf of Mizuho."

My chest constricted. 

"Please tell me you've heard from Sheena."

"You're Edie?" 

I nodded.

"I am Kuchinawa. Your companions found Sheena, injured, and returned with her to Ozette. Sheena is undergoing treatment there." He didn't sound happy about it. "Mizuho has decided to assume a neutral stance until a better agreement can be reached. I have come here to accompany you and your party to Ozette when your business here is concluded."

Sheena was alive.

Sheena was  _ alive _ , and she'd been in trouble - sending Raine and Genis after her hadn't been some stupid wild goose chase. I felt a little bit like I was going to fall over - my legs had suddenly turned to gelatin and my heart was racing.

"You're Kuchinawa," I repeated. Why did I know that name? "Thank you," I said, because I didn't know what else to say. "That's - a huge relief."

Kuchinawa nodded.

"See? Everything's coming up roses," Zelos beamed - although I thought he looked a little shaken. "Well, welcome to the party, Kuchinawa. Let's get Colette all fixed up and head off to Ozette, huh?"

* * *

It was easier said than done. 

The researcher had a presentation of sorts, laid out at the console on his desk. It was very bizarre to see a holographic display beside a quill pen and ink stand, but stranger still were the braziers and hanging candles, illuminating a room full of normal-looking office chairs and neglected potted plants. They didn't seem to flicker, so maybe they were some magical imitation? It gave the place the look of a period movie set turned break room.

"Upon receiving the report of Colette's symptoms, we focused our attention on research data regarding the Chosen's Cruxis Crystal," the researcher told us.

"Well now," said Zelos, looking pleased, "so my crystal  _ was _ useful. When Colette returns to normal, I'll need to make sure she thanks me generously."

Lloyd glowered at him. 

"Not the time, pal," I said to Zelos. 

The researcher went on. "Erm. Cruxis Crystals are thought to be evolved forms of Exspheres. Both Exspheres and Cruxis Crystals are lifeless beings."

"Lifeless... what?" asked Lloyd.

"They're inorganic, but they're alive," I summarized. "Like a virus. Or a machine."

"Yes," the researcher nodded, "Both of these crystals are like parasites fusing with other life forms."

"Parasites," Lloyd echoed, glancing down at his hands. "That's not a very nice thought."

"When the crystal is able to fuse, the mana in the body loses balance and goes out of control. And since Cruxis Crystals possess the same qualities as Exspheres, we can surmise that Colette is suffering from a parasitical infection by the Cruxis Crystal."

"Then if she had a Key Crest, she'd return to normal, right?" proposed Zelos. 

"Theoretically, yes. She would be able to freely control the Cruxis Crystal if she had a Key Crest."

I looked over at Lloyd. "Well?"

"Maybe we can get one around here?" he proposed. 

"Unfortunately," the researcher went on, "Key Crests remain somewhat of an elusive technology. We haven't been able to reproduce a working model, and with inhibitor ore being so difficult to obtain... The few we've been loaned have been returned to the original owners, I'm afraid."

"So you don't have a solution?" Zelos prompted, eyes narrowing.

"Er, well," the researcher said, "It's true that the Campus has several large unsorted collections of artifacts, and there's always the flea market -"

"You can do better than that," said Zelos genially, "Get some lackeys on the problem, huh? We've had a long day and I think we oughta get some rest."

Lloyd shook his head. "I'm not tired! I can't process inhibitor ore, but I can recarve the charm if it's worn off or missing. I'm gonna go look where he said, and you can come with if you want."

"Okay, okay," Zelos soothed, "we'll search for a while, but then I really need my beauty sleep."

"You must have been missing out for a while," I said, reflexively. Zelos looked around at me, all faux betrayal. "I'm kidding," I assured him, "you're very attractive and everyone thinks so. Now let's go looking?"

"Well, okay," Zelos allowed.

I turned - and jumped. I'd forgotten Kuchinawa was there.

"Did I frighten you?" he asked, sounding amused.

"Make some noise, man," Zelos urged him. "Anyway, you can help out. Now, er, what are we looking for?"

"Er, I can show you to the unprocessed storage area for this department," the researcher offered.

"I'll take that one," I said, "you kids search outside."

"Yes, ma'am," said Zelos.

"I would not like... to be alone," Presea said.

"You can come with me," Lloyd told her. "We're gonna go outside anyway."

She nodded.

Colette went with Lloyd by default - and so I followed the researcher down into the bowels of the facility, past rows and rows of narrow doors with names or numbers or off-limits notices. The researcher, already vaguely jumpy and annoying, only got more awkward as we went on alone. I asked about rooms, about projects, about his work - and got stilted one-word answers for my trouble.

"Well, here's the junk - er, the unprocessed storage area," he said, glowing with relief. "I'll leave you to it, then?" He swiped a card in a magnetic reader and held the door open for me; the room beyond was dark and musty with stale air. 

"Right," I said, edging past him with undue caution. "Thanks."

He nodded, and the door closed behind me.

The room flooded grey and dark. The only illumination came from a pair of barred basement windows on the far side of the room, and it was a few minutes before I found the brass-plate light switches. The lights came on slowly, each bank of bulbs thudding on with the force of a hammer blow. Some of the bulbs cast a thready, flickering orange light down rows of overfilled and musty boxes; others were fluorescent, bright and steady. 

The room was huge and cramped, careless piles of rotting books beside broken alchemical instruments and bewildering stone relics. It had the detritus of ages gathered in mildewed cardboard boxes and wooden crates; some boxes looked like they had been stored elsewhere for generations and had only recently been relocated, only to be neglected for another decade. 

I snorted in annoyance - and then I sneezed.

There was no way one person could wade through all of this in a day, or even a week.

I tried to find some kind of organizational schema to the boxes - but if there had ever been one, it'd been abandoned a long, long time ago. There were boxes of ancient-looking nails next to crates of unidentifiable taxidermy; there were cases of unlabeled sample phials, each one filled with some mysterious congealed liquid. There were folios of interestingly-textured fabrics, and shapeless lumps of melted plastic, buckets of unsorted small bones and boxes of tarnished silver jewelry.

The only frame of reference I had for inhibitor ore was my own Key Crest. It was at a difficult angle to look at while mounted, so I removed Crest and Exsphere together for closer examination.

The others had removed theirs before - the whole thing, including the Exsphere, somehow adhered to the skin like magnet to metal, and came off with enough deliberate force. Lloyd had said once that it was part of the spell carved on the Crest - but I felt I didn't understand enough about it to mess around, so mostly I didn't touch it except to clean the skin beneath. 

It was a peculiar feeling. I expected a head rush or a sudden heaviness - but instead all I felt was an odd muffling of sensation, like being submerged underwater. It lasted only moments before I could no longer tell the difference.

The metal of the Key Crest was goldish-bronze, unusually matte, the texture of the surface almost soft - but I couldn't mark it with a fingernail if I tried. The charm - the runic carving that made it work - had a dim, nearly invisible glow to it. But I had no idea what unprocessed Inhibitor Ore would look like - or even a damaged Key Crest. But I would look anyway.

I replaced my Key Crest and Exsphere and got to work.

I started sorting through the mess, starting with the leftmost shelf and working my way down and up again. At first I tried to set the boxes back down in some sort of order - machinery with machinery, rocks with rocks - but soon there were too many to arrange on the floor, and I gave it up for some poor future grad student. 

I worked haphazardly, pulling each bag or box down to where I could see the contents in the light and rifling through for anything that looked even vaguely like the metal of my Key Crest - those joined a measly pile on the floor. Forty-five minutes into my search I realized that I could reproduce - however poorly - Raine's light spell, and so I could illuminate the boxes without needing to pull them down at all.

I worked for another hour, getting progressively more bored and more frustrated.

And then I opened a box and looked down into my own face.

It was a plastic bin with a rubber lid; inside were several casts made of hard white plaster. Some of them were wrapped in waxy cloth, but the one on top wasn't - it was a kind of death mask, or an impression taken of a young woman with her eyes closed. I stared down at it, transfixed, and retreated to the ground so that I could put it on the floor and look at it more closely. 

I unwrapped a resin cast of a smallish hand, and what must have been the rubber mold to make it. There was another hand, without the matching mold, and then the mold for the plaster face. A small metal case lay at the very bottom of the bin, with a snap closure.

I numbly observed that the plaster face, so similar to mine, had an identical scar on the right side of the lightly cleft chin. 

The metal case contained a lock of pale green hair cemented at one end with wax. 

I closed the case and picked up the resin hand, strangely unsurprised to see how similar it was to my own - the slightly blunt fingertips, the rounded nails - and put it down again, unable to bring myself to compare our fingerprints. I put it all back in the bin, snapped the lid shut, and shoved it back onto the shelf. I felt for sure that if I pulled it down again, the face would have changed.

I hadn't slept well, I told myself.

I gathered up my pile of prospective Key Crests and fled into the hall, unable to bear being in the room a moment longer.

* * *

I spent another fifteen minutes trying to navigate back to the atrium, and by then I'd calmed down.

I looked at my sorry haul in better lighting and was pleased to discover that one of them had runes on it, which I counted as a good sign. The rest looked like pieces of some greater whole - one in particular looked to be a shard of a strangely-colored circuit board. I returned to the room where we'd met with the researcher, only to find it locked. It was getting dark outside - where was Lloyd?

"Edie."

I jumped.

"Kuchinawa," I said. He really  _ didn't _ make any noise. "Hi. Have you seen Lloyd or Zelos?"

He nodded. He had a funny stillness to him, as though he could have been standing in this spot since we'd split up and just not moved. "They've borrowed a lab on the second floor."

I brightened. "Did they find anything?" He nodded. 

"Follow me. Lloyd said you were likely to get lost," Kuchinawa added.

"Yeah, that's accurate."

The lab was hidden down a narrow hallway on the second floor; I would never have found it on my own.

Lloyd was not at one of the work tables, but seated in a chair, bending over his own knee. He had a miniscule chisel or some other piece of equipment in one bare hand, and a slim disc of metal in the other. His hands were steady, practically immobile except for when he made some minor adjustment or was in the middle of a cut. He'd tied his hair back, and he gave me a little nod as I came in.

Zelos, meanwhile, was stretched out on one of the tables, bag pillowed underneath his head, eyes closed and arms crossed. He didn't look as if he was actually asleep, but I didn't bother him.

Presea was curled in one corner of the room, half-hidden beneath the blanket of Lloyd's jacket, and Colette stood not far from the door, gazing into the middle distance.

I gave Kuchinawa a thumbs-up and followed Zelos' example.

I curled up sideways, pulled the hood down over my face, and drifted off.

* * *

"Edie?"

I blinked awake. Traitorous sunlight was beginning to peek past the window blinds - my eyes watered.

"Howsitgoing?" I asked, sitting up slowly and rubbing at my eyes. 

Lloyd grinned. "It's all done."

I squeezed my eyes shut against the world, and then opened them again. "Did you stay up all night?"

Lloyd shrugged. "I've done it before."

"Mmm," I agreed, yawning. I looked around - Zelos hadn't really moved since I'd last seen him, so I shoved a heel carelessly against the side of the table. He groaned in wordless protest and dropped a forearm over his eyes, staying like that for a long moment before opening his eyes towards the ceiling with the hollow look of a man exhausted.

"Nrrgh. Key Crest done baking or whatever?"

"Yep," I said, looking over to find Kuchinawa seated cross-legged against one wall and Presea still curled against another. She woke quietly and without protest, and I suspected Kuchinawa was never asleep to begin with. "Alright, kids," I said, when everyone was more or less upright and lucid, "let's get this show on the road."

"Time for the big moment?" Zelos said. "Great. Then let's fix up Colette and go find actual beds, huh?"

"Shut up," Lloyd said, without any heat. "Um. You think she'll let me put it on her?"

"You're not threatening her," I shrugged.

"Right. Um. Maybe you guys... never mind." Lloyd approached Colette. "Um. Sorry this is such a late birthday present, but... Anyway. I put the Key Crest on your necklace. Hopefully -" He tentatively brushed the hair away from Colette's neck, every moment aware that she might turn and try to bash his head in. But she didn't, and he fastened the necklace with steady hands, pressing the Key Crest into place above the Cruxis Crystal.

He stepped back. We waited.

"Colette?" he asked, "Can you hear me?"

Colette remained as she had been; red-eyed and blank.

My heart sank.

"It didn't work," said Lloyd, a strained note to the words. 

I closed my eyes, thinking. "Your dad makes Key Crests," I said, trying to fathom what could possibly be wrong with Lloyd's - after all, he'd fixed Raine's. I remembered there being another dwarf later in the game - what had his name been? They had needed him to make Presea's Key Crest - maybe a dwarf needed to make this one, too. "You think he could help?"

"Dad's in Sylvarant," Lloyd said, grimly, "and the Rheairds... Well. Maybe the people here know a way? Or we can ask the Renegades?"

"Hey, hey," said Zelos, "Wait a moment. Aren't you forgetting something?"

Lloyd turned to him, bemused.

"I'm here to keep tabs on you," he reminded Lloyd, "I'm pretty sure I can't let you go back to Sylvarant."

"Well, then," said Lloyd, "just come along with us, oh  _ compassionate  _ Chosen One."

"What, are you serious?" asked Zelos.

"Come on," I wheedled, "It's for dear, sweet Colette! You'd be saving her  _ life _ ."

Zelos looked at me sideways, and grumbled. "Wonderful. How am I supposed to snitch after hearing  _ that _ ? Fine, fine."

"Gotta go to Ozette first, though," I pointed out. "Can't leave without our crew. And we need some kind of fuel."

"And Presea needs to go home," Lloyd agreed. "Right."

"Okay, great plan," said Zelos, "but for real, can we find somewhere to actually sleep?"

* * *

We never made it to the inn.

The Papal Knights - at least a dozen of them - were waiting in the atrium. I noted the drippy researcher from earlier standing near the stairway with a small crowd of gawkers, many of whom looked as if they had been milling around in anticipation of whatever happened next. Zelos slowed as we entered the hall, dawn painting a dramatic scene in rich yellows and deep, dark blues. 

"Chosen One," boomed a fellow at the forefront, "You and your companions are hereby declared traitors to the Crown; you will lay down your weapons and submit yourself to the justice of the Church."

"Ex _ cuse _ me?" cried Zelos, sounding much more annoyed than he was surprised. "And how does that work out, Mr. Papal Knight?"

"You have been observed to be plotting against the throne," the knight continued. 

"That's rich," Zelos sneered. " _ I'm  _ the one plotting against the throne?"

"Enough. Restrain them and take a sample," he ordered two other men, "Don't touch the angel. If you approach her carelessly, she will kill you. I would advise you to cooperate, Chosen One."

"I'm sure you would," Zelos complained.

The Knights approached, the two in question wielding little plastic-and-metal devices that looked to me like glucose meters. They took Presea and Lloyd first as I stood there, trying to calculate our odds - Zelos had said that the Papal Knights had Exspheres, and it must have been true for them to manhandle Presea or Lloyd like that. I crammed my hands in my pockets, trying to obscure any last bit of skin - I would have to let them do it.

"What are you doing?" Lloyd demanded. "Ouch!"

"Just let them do it. Biological testing," Zelos said, "It's 'cause of the caste system here. Some half-elves don't look any different from humans, so they take blood samples."

Kuchinawa grudgingly allowed himself to be tested.

I gave a moment's token resistance, trying to wiggle away from the lancet as it was forced towards my neck - but Tethe'allan blood testing worked fast. "S-sir!" The guard behind me gripped one of my arms so hard he nearly broke it, like I was about to bolt. I could feel warm, wet blood trickling in a thin line from my jugular, so hasty and careless had he been with the instrument. "She's a match!"

"Noooo, really," I said, without affect.

"You're a half-elf?" Zelos looked genuinely taken aback - and slightly repulsed, as if he'd found a hair in his soup. I looked away, surprised at the stab of hurt and anger.

"It wasn't like I was hiding it," I said, looking at a point on the far wall. 

"Pathetic," hissed the Knight-in-Charge, "entering University facilities unchecked - you have engaged in shameless caste deception."

No one had ever spoken to me with so much frank hatred and disgust. How utterly sheltered and naive had I been to think I could endure this without shame or pain? I  _ knew _ this was nonsense in the extreme, and it still set off some visceral feeling of self-loathing and fear. 

" _ What'd you say _ ?" Lloyd twisted an arm free, raising a fist, "Edie's a much better person than you! Who cares if she's a half-elf?!"

Zelos still had a slightly dazed look about him. "I don't know what it's like in  _ your _ world," he said to Lloyd, "but over here, half-elves are at the bottom of the caste system. Half-elves -"

"Half-elves guilty of crimes are all executed without exception," the Knight Captain said, with some relish.

"Wh - that's insane!"

"Lloyd, it's fine," I said, trying - but not very hard - to wriggle free as the guards closed in and clapped me in irons, "Go get Raine, don't worry -" but I was already being marched out of the doors. And then I realized that my escort had a full eight of the twelve guards - which meant Lloyd and the others would be evenly matched. I was pushed out into the dawn light, wondering - why on earth was I being saddled with  _ eight _ of these enormous bastards?

I kept my mouth shut until we were nearly out of the city, fear metamorphosing slowly but surely into anger.

"So why do I get the honor guard?" I asked, loudly.

One of them cuffed me on the back of the head with a gauntleted fist. My ears rang.

"Keep quiet," ordered another.

I shut my mouth, and listened.

Half-elves, they said, were a risk, because they could do magic. Lloyd and the others would be kept somewhere while they brought me to the bridge - a good hour or two away - and called reinforcements. They seemed legitimately afraid of me, which would have been ridiculous in any other circumstances. And as we walked on, beyond the city limits and onto the Imperial highway, I began to find the whole thing very funny.

I'd had a very rough couple of days.

I phased backwards out of my handcuffs, appearing at a point some six feet behind the tail end of the procession. And then I turned invisible.

It was the same effect as a room full of people realizing that the incredibly deadly tarantula was not, in fact, in its terrarium. The Papal armor didn't give the men fantastic peripheral vision or mobility, and so very soon what had started as a self-serious breach in security turned into a kind of medieval Three Stooges. Guards bumped into other guards in the hurry of turning around, one tripped over his own feet, and another clocked two men at once while turning with his halberd outstretched.

I watched this go on for several minutes before realizing two things; one, I was very tired. Two, if left unchecked, they would undoubtedly return to the city to contact their superior.

I couldn't think of a way to persuade them I was headed towards the bridge, but neither was I equipped for open combat against eight heavily-armed men with Exspheres. And then I remembered I was invisible, and felt very silly. 

I seized one straggler by the arm - no mean feat, given their size - and then dropped him from a height of fifteen feet. He fell like a boulder, felling two men in one blow and rendering them both unconscious - or at least, they didn't stand up again. I seized a second man, and did the same thing, and then a third, and then caught the fourth as he ran, screaming. He fell on the last survivor, clanging like a gong, and fell still. 

I surveyed my work, arms crossed, and decided I wasn't going to feel bad about this.

* * *

I met Lloyd and the others less than a mile outside the city. They didn't look like they'd fought their way out - but they had a rumpled look, and Lloyd's face was a mask of grim determination. They were running, too - he must have been worried. 

"What's the rush?" I asked, stepping out of the invisibility and into the light of day like I was shedding a heavy cloak. 

"What the -"

"Edie!"

The entourage came skidding to a halt behind Lloyd - Zelos crashing painfully into Lloyd's outstretched arm and Kuchinawa baring steel for half a second before processing the situation and sheathing the katana. Neither Presea nor Colette looked surprised, but that was kind of their whole thing. The sun was shining, I was sore, and we were getting to Ozette if it put me dead in the ground.

"Soooo," I said, hands deep in my pockets, "how are you?"

"How the hell did you get free?" Zelos asked, bewildered.

Lloyd grinned, breaking out of his shock to barrel forward and grab me in a backbreaking hug. "You're okay!"

"I'm okay," I agreed, giving him a quick squeeze, "We should get back on the road. We've got a Sheena to see."

"You're okay?" asked Lloyd, gripping me by either shoulder. 

"Peachy. Didn't take a hit," I beamed.

"Okay. Let's go to Ozette!"

"Seriously, is no one gonna tell me how she got free?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Balanced Combat (tm)


	16. Gaoracchia Forest, Ozette

We traveled northeast. The well-traveled and immaculately maintained Imperial Highway petered out into wide gravel roads; the small towns and wayrests that had been plentiful on the road from Meltokio to Sybak were now few and far between. Soon there were none at all. The chalky grasslands of the coast were blooming with sweet-smelling tufted grass and flocked with butterflies; farther north the landscape turned to unfriendly scarpland, thick with tall, straight pines and dense, dark firs. 

Gaoracchia Forest lay like a black lake among the grey-peaked mountains; a sprawling, sunless creature a hundred miles across - and that was only the length of the marked trail. The real size of it was supposed to be many million acres, impossible to traverse on foot.

The Forest was a place of impenetrable, preternatural darkness, a place of monsters real and imagined. Beyond the borders of the Gaoracchia forest, Zelos told us, there was no summer, no life that was not wretched and strangling and watchful. The streams were drowning streams; the trees fruited sweet poison. 

The dead walked with the living, jealous and maddened and waiting. When we walked in the forest, we would walk on graves, and the maggots would writhe in anticipation of our proffered feast.

* * *

"That is inaccurate."

Zelos looked around at Presea, hurt. 

"What? It totally is!"

We would enter the forest tomorrow. Tonight, we camped well beyond its borders, a buoy of light in the shadow of its gnarled trees and fertile green-blue darkness. 

Lloyd and I made camp with familiar, easy efficiency. Presea, too, was comfortable in the wild, and had a fire going in only a few minutes. Kuchinawa stayed a little apart from us. He was more taciturn even than Presea, and so I often forgot he was there; Zelos wandered uselessly from Lloyd to Presea to the borders of the camp, unsure of what to do and unwilling to take the initiative. Colette remained a figure in the dark.

"The forest is not sentient," Presea continued. "Your assertions are not factual."

"Presea, Presea, Presea," Zelos wheedled, "We're on the same team here! Tethe'allans have to have each other's backs."

"...That is a meaningless distinction."

"You've traveled through the forest before, Presea?" Lloyd asked.

"No."

"Sane people take the riverboats," said Zelos, "but something tells me the Pope's gonna keep an eye on those."

"Yes," agreed Presea. "It is very... inconvenient."

"She's more talkative," Lloyd said to me, smiling a little. And then his expression fell into grim severity. "I almost forgot to tell you. After you were taken away, we got shut up in this underground lab. The lady there knew Presea," he went on. "Presea was pretty upset, and we almost fought, but Kuchinawa convinced the lady to let us out. I guess she knows Sheena? But anyway-"

"Miss Kate," supplied Zelos, leering. "Unusual for a half-elf to defend the Pope like that."

" _ Anyway _ ," Lloyd said, ignoring him, "they've been doing Exsphere experiments here, too. What that guy said to us in the University - it's not the whole story at all. They're trying to make Cruxis Crystals, just like Colette's."

"So Presea's Exsphere is..." I waved a hand. "A kind of test?"

"It's got a special Key Crest," Lloyd nodded. "It's really frustrating. I can't tell the difference between the one she's got and a normal one at  _ all _ . But Kate said there's a dwarf living south of Ozette. I think we should talk to him. If he can help Presea, then maybe he can help Colette, and then we wouldn't have to go all the way back to Sylvarant to see Dad."

"I missed a lot," I sighed, stretching my legs until the soles of my feet were nearly touching the edge of the fire. "What is that Dwarves can do that you can't? I saw you working! And you fixed Raine's Key Crest."

Lloyd made a face. "I think Dwarves can see magic in a different way, kind of like Genis and the Professor can. And Raine's Crest was for a normal Exsphere. I don't think Colette's or Presea's is close enough for the design I know to work. But... if Exspheres are kind of living things, it explains how some of them are different."

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I mean, mine's different from Raine or Genis', and yours is different, too."

"Where do they come from?" I asked, "I guess I assumed they were lab-grown. 'Cause Kvar said yours was part of a project, right?"

"You guys don't know?" asked Zelos. "They're mined in Toize Valley. Way southwest of here."

"They're mined?" I repeated. That seemed weird to me, for some reason. "I wonder what they're made of." I wondered if Sybak had a course in Xenobiology, or if that violated some kind of Church edict. 

"Who cares?" said Zelos, dismissively. "It's not like knowing would help us."

"Oh,  _ totally _ ," I replied - because he'd managed to use  _ exactly _ the kind of tone that pissed me off - "Yeah, I totally agree it's better not to know things."

Zelos had been  _ really _ annoying since he found out I was a half-elf.

It was like all his goodwill and interest towards me as a person had evaporated in an instant - like I'd personally slighted him somehow by not introducing myself as 'Edie, a half-elf'. I had the distinct feeling that he expected me to  _ apologize _ \- for deceiving him? For making him go out of his way for me? It wasn't that he had started insulting me, or complained about having to go running after me - it was like he was  _ sulking _ . Or resentful. 

Maybe if I had pretended to be ashamed of myself, he'd have taken pity on me. But I hadn't, and so he didn't. 

I didn't find him quite so amusing anymore. 

"No need to get all uptight, Miss Mystery," he sneered, "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Shut up, Zelos," muttered Lloyd.

"It's fine," I said, levering myself to my feet and stretching. "I'm gonna go for a walk."

"What?" Lloyd asked, "It's pitch black!"

"Seriously, this place isn't safe," added Zelos, dropping the attitude for a moment. 

"Who cares?" I echoed, aware of how childish it sounded.

I shouldn't have been bothered. I  _ knew _ that Zelos had been raised in Meltokio, been taught a certain way - but that didn't seem like a very good excuse.

It was only that we'd gotten  _ along _ so well before. It had only been two days - but it was enough to sting.

I went off into the dark, my hand a dim beacon of white light. 

The grass here was long and damp with condensation; I skimmed my free hand across the fine, thin feelers of it, a sensation like drifting through dewy cobwebs. I liked that it was colder here, that I could smell the richness of the earth without the clogging oppression of summer heat. And still it was only just July - things had moved so quickly after Hima, and it had been cool there, too. We had missed Sheena's birthday, and I felt bizarrely guilty for it - had I thought we'd be reunite with her before then? No, I'd just forgotten - after all, it was Colette who remembered things like birthdays.

I missed Colette.

She'd been like this - what, a week? Just over seven days, if I didn't count the day at the Tower. It seemed much longer, because she had been silent for so long - but she had still  _ smiled _ . She had still been there. I felt her diary in my pocket like a lead weight, and sometimes I thought about reading it, but I couldn't. Reading it would be too much like admitting she was gone.

When I was a good distance from the camp, I extinguished my light.

The stars wheeled overhead.

Where was Kratos now? I worried about him, even though I know I shouldn't have. I had almost entirely forgotten that feeling of alien terror, when he had stood there, wings outstretched - and all I could really remember was that afternoon on the green in Asgard, when he had told me about his wife.

I stood there for a while, until the cold air leeched my temper from me like lost heat. 

No one had come after me. I was annoyed at myself for noticing, or even caring; I wasn't a child having a tantrum, and I didn't need coddling or reassurance. I knew better than to blame my bad mood on anyone, even Zelos - I was fatigued, and stressed, and to let that unhappiness fester into resentment was no good for anybody. 

I came back to camp and found the others sitting in contemplation of the fire.

"I'm gonna knock off early," I said, "Lloyd, can you get first watch?"

"Sure," Lloyd replied, glancing up. "Um -"

I paused. "Hm?"

Lloyd shook his head. "Nothing. I hope you get some good sleep."

* * *

The forest canopy blocked out almost all light, so that those places where the sun fell seemed to burn, pools of luminous gold in the bleak darkness. The lightless air was heavy, cool, and thick with the smell of loam and moss and rotting leaves. The trailhead, marked by a single hanging lantern, opened to us like the expectant mouth of some vast, hungry leviathan. We left behind the sun and traveled into starless midnight.

"Yeah, I hate this," complained Zelos. "I can barely see anything."

"Visibility is low. Proceed with caution," advised Presea.

I lagged behind, fascinated at how the dark seemed to be punctuated by deeper darkness; the trees created pockets of near-blackness, and there was the impression of constant, invisible movement. A wind moved about us in unpredictable streams and eddies, so that disembodied sounds swam past the ears, sourceless and incomprehensible. What light there was cast fickle shadows across the warped earth and knotty, twisted trees, conjuring specters from waving branches or shifting brush.

My instinctual reaction was fear, but I also felt a kind of kinship with the forest - a strange comfort in the smell and the dark. 

It wouldn't last.

"What was that?" asked Lloyd, head swiveling.

"Ugh, I dunno," said Zelos. "Wind?"

"Keep moving," said Kuchinawa.

* * *

_ -and there the mortal flesh, absolved of this monstrous vitality, shall succumb at last to dissolution -  _

* * *

"Okay, you guys heard  _ that _ , right?" I said, cupping my hands to my ears at odd angles as if it would help me locate the sound. Was it a whispering, or was I hearing patterns in the meaningless symphony of nature? It had been so distinct, but only for a moment, and now I couldn't be sure that I'd heard it at all. "Something about flesh?"

"Edie, come on," shivered Lloyd, "it's scary enough in here as it is."

"I... heard it," Presea said, as if entranced. 

"Well, I don't like that at all," said Zelos, "let's keep going, huh? I don't wanna see any more ghosts than I've gotta."

* * *

_ -to grow fat on blood, the ache of gluttony, teeth sunk deep, to gorge on the mindless parade of humanity and from that weakness render strength - _

* * *

"You honestly - I'm going nuts," I declared. "I'm sure I heard it that time."

"If you hear it," Presea ground out, "then perhaps I am not imagining things."

"Agh! You've gotta be kidding me!" cried Zelos, "Presea, my little rosebud, please, tell me you're kidding."

"I am not."

"Enough," said Kuchinawa. "There's no use in discussing it."

"But how come Presea and Edie can hear it, but we can't?" asked Lloyd.

"You heard the man, Lloyd!" said Zelos, "If we walk fast enough, we can get outta here before the girls turn on us."

"Not so sure about that," I grumbled.

* * *

- _ and their shattered bodies given up to a terror beyond imagining, and be reborn - _

* * *

There was a change that had started in me at Sybak, or maybe I had only started to notice it there; I couldn't think too deeply on it, not in Gaoracchia, but the forest had a dark, oppressive quality that stifled conversation and turned the mind inwards. 

I was bizarrely grateful for the monsters, and for Colette's continued reticence, and for the incident with Sheena, because it gave me things to think on and worry about that were real - problems that I could be sure I wasn't imagining. 

But the change - and my thoughts on the change, however I tried to suppress or avoid them - still lingered at the edges of my mind, a thing in the periphery of my vision. It was a thing I could not look directly at, or it would drive me mad.

When I was little, I had a recurring dream.

I was always hazy in the recollection, but it involved a children's television show mascot, a golden cage, and a giant, rainbow-striped egg. And for years, I'd held that dream as a kind of evidence of the natural, surreal unconscious - a collection of nostalgic, vaguely disturbing images and notions that had been churned out of the detritus of my everyday life. It was the anecdote that surfaced at slumber parties or during teenage fits of psychoanalysis, and it had stayed with me all the way through to adulthood.

And then, while visiting a friend's childhood home, my dream had manifested in the television cabinet, one spine in a row of vintage tapes.

The dream wasn't a dream at all, but a bad recollection of some straight-to-VHS special that I must have been too young to properly remember. Everything was there - the golden cage, the rainbow egg - and I'd imagined none of it. Seeing it there, in print on the cardboard case, filled me with a sudden, sheepish relief - because sometimes, although not always, that dream had been a nightmare. 

That discovery was, in many ways, the inverse of what was happening now.

In that way that familiar things sometimes become strange, the Edie in my memory had slowly become a stranger. I could still empathize with that person, but now I had the horrible, unmoored feeling that  _ she _ was not  _ me _ , and maybe never had been.

That wasn't so unusual - I'd had periods of depression, dissociation, loss of memory - I'd had times I'd looked back on things I'd done and regretted the person I had been then. But they had always been me, and I could still feel the ghost of whatever impulse had driven me to act badly. I lived those memories, those moments, from the body I had - piloted? Inhabited? - for twenty-odd years. But now...

I recognized myself, but these hands weren't my hands, just as these ears weren't my ears. The Edie in my memory hadn't been a fighter, and neither had she been an adventurer; she'd been a homebody, at heart, a reluctant bartender and local confidant, a musician - the Edie in my memory would never have been able to kill someone. I was sure of that now - that the pure psychological horror of inflicting permanent harm to another living person would have incapacitated her.

I tried to recall being that person; dredged up the grief at my father's death, when I was still a teenager - probed the still-tender wound of my mother's death only two years previously. I thought about my high school friends, about the summer night we had driven down the main drag of our backwater town, dreamy Icelandic synth-rock pouring from the open windows - about the intoxicating closeness of the handsome, stupid boy beside me. 

I thought of my first and last relationship - and about the things she had said that last month together, when everything had collapsed and I'd let it, my coursework abandoned and the lease up, and her either unwilling or unable to find someplace else to stay - and about the awkward apologies we'd shared later over text, and how deeply it had relieved me, despite everything - and finally, sitting alone in my empty childhood home, head buzzing with white noise.

I dug fingers into my bruises and worried at old scars, hoping that I might feel enough pain to reconnect me to the past. 

But they had all taken on the quality of a dream; and maybe it was only a product of my sleeplessness, or stress, or both, but I felt as if I had shed my identity, as if it was a loose, translucent skin shrugged off, the thing underneath still damp and formless and uncertain. It was not a relief - not a welcome transformation - but instead a stripping bare, a sudden, stinging vulnerability, and I was afraid.

I did not want to be someone else.

In the silence, and the dark, beneath the tide of whispering trees, I was alone, and I had started to feel as if I was no one at all.

* * *

- _ the rotten stench of it, perfumed memory, a hymn of decay, of regrowth, of slackened, weeping piety, and there will be a beauty there, in the white bone and the sinew and the seeping color of what remains - _

* * *

"Edie? You should get some sleep."

Lloyd, in the light of the dying fire, became an impression in deep reds and searing yellows. I smiled at him. 

"Sorry," I replied, "I just can't sleep in this place. I keep hearing stuff that - anyway. I'll get some rest once we're out of this place."

"You still need to sleep," he reminded me. "We'll look out for you, all right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, of course."

* * *

_ -and in the bowels of hell, many hands - _

* * *

"You okay, Miss Mysterious?"

I glanced sideways at Zelos, too tired to dredge up the animosity of days previous. We'd been in the forest for three days already, and I'd hardly been sleeping. Presea heard the voices, too, which was some relief, but the voices were, in a hundred ways, the least of my problems. Zelos' foul attitude barely registered - in fact, it was almost reassuring. It gave me a role to assume.

"I'm tired," I said, "but I'll live. How are you?"

That caught him off-guard. 

"Oh, y'know, spooky forest, wanted criminal," he shrugged. "What can you do?"

"Can't imagine," I replied. 

"...So," he continued, after an awkward pause, "I was thinking that I probably owe you an apology."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Did Lloyd put you up to this?"

"What? No," Zelos said, all exaggerated hurt.

"It's fine," I snorted, "I'm over it."

"Come on, at least let me say sorry."

"What for?' I asked, because his reluctance to come right out with it annoyed and amused me all at once. He seemed to recognize it too, by the sudden tightness around his eyes. 

"I'm as much a fugitive as you are, so it was pretty crummy for me to treat you differently just because you're a half-elf," he said. "I'm sorry." 

It was hard to gauge his sincerity, but I had already decided to forgive him. "Yeah, it was," I agreed. "Apology accepted."

"It's not you or anything," he went on, unnecessarily, "It's just the way things are around here."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't give me that crap. You're smart enough to see bigotry for what it is. What did you think I was, anyway, a particularly pointy human?"

"I  _ assumed _ you were an elf," Zelos countered, "I've never seen a half-elf swagger around giving people orders. What was I supposed to think?"

"You've met the Renegades, haven't you?" I pointed out, "Look, anything you say about this is just gonna piss me off. It's not my job to make you feel better about being an asshole," I went on, and then, feeling that was too harsh, said, "I already said I forgive you, anyway. Let's talk about something else, huh? I missed chatting with you."

Zelos, left to unpack all that, opted for the easiest out.

"You missed me, huh?" he grinned. 

"Desperately," I returned, only half-mocking. 

* * *

I put off sleeping as long as I was able. But by that last night - the forest a stifling coffin - no urging from my mind could keep my body going. I drifted off, feeling dazed and weightless, and then I was dreaming.

I stood shin-deep in cold water. The sky was gray and overcast, the lakewater black and dull. Beneath my feet I could feel the rounded stones, slick with kelp, and behind me was the rocky beach, gray and cold and familiar. The moldering wooden steps, with their uneven, splintering handrails, climbed over the slope and out of sight. I should have been able to see the peak of the house, the little round window to the attic - but I couldn't.

When had I been here last? Had I ever been here? I squinted at the sky, looking for the shape of the island on the horizon, but there was only gray. There were no seabirds, despite the hour, and the air seemed heavy, dense and empty. 

I turned sluggish, to scale the beach, but the stones slid beneath my feet like loose sand. I fell once, twice, landing awkwardly and sending a shocking pain up along one arm - and then I fell back into the water, which was no longer still but cresting in dark green waves up along the shoreline. I tried to get up, my hands sliding on stone, but each wave hit me harder than the last, stealing the ground out from under me and I was  _ drowning  _ -

My head lurched beneath the surface, and as water filled my ears I heard the whispering -  _ and in the deathly quiet surrender your heart  _ \- and gasped, freezing water burning in my lungs, and then - a pair of small hands seized my shoulders and pulled.

* * *

"Edie?"

The ground was cold and hard and slightly damp. The fire had burned down, heat and orange light roiling beneath a thatch of ash and charcoal, and there was a misty, grey quality to the air - the only indication that dawn was coming on. I felt clammy and not-quite-real, as if my bones had been switched out for smoke, and there was a ringing in my ears. Colette was crouched over me, hair hanging in amber curtains around her face.

Her eyes, wide and shining, were a beautiful, unmistakable  _ blue _ .

"Waghh?" I asked, mind spinning in uncertain, wobbly circles, the bits between my ears unsure to do with the information I was getting from my eyes. 

"Are you okay?" Colette asked, combing the hair away from my forehead. Her hand was warm.

I dimly registered Lloyd on the other side of the camp, a red smudge rising unsteadily from the base of a tree. Zelos was on his feet, paralyzed.

"Wuhappened?" I asked.

"There was something.... It was trying to attack you, and, um, and I just kind of..." Colette gave me a helpless smile.

My throat was dry.

"You're back," I said, reaching up to touch her face - so mobile, so  _ alive _ \- "You're really back."

Colette nodded, eyes shining with tears. "Um, I think so."

I threw myself forward, hugging her as tightly as I dared, eyes itching and my heart hammering - Lloyd was still half-asleep, staring down at the two of us like he was witnessing a mirage. Colette clasped me to her, tighter still, and I closed my eyes for a moment, relishing in the sensation of her as another living being, and then pulled back, still unsure that I was seeing something  _ real.  _ Her face was splotchy with emotion, and then she was crying.

"Sorry," she said, wiping her face, "I'm just - I'm just so happy to be back!"

Lloyd dropped onto the ground beside us, eyes wide, before he burst into breathless laughter and grabbed Colette from me, dragging her into a hug and grinning like his face would split in two. "You're back!" he gabbled, "I feel like it's been forever, but you're back!"

Colette nodded. "I'm back," she repeated.

"Welcome back," Lloyd grinned.

"Er, not to interrupt, but -"

Zelos hovered, awkward. 

"We're  _ having _ a  _ moment _ ," I said, beaming up at him. 

"...I'm confused," he admitted, "not that I'm not happy our little angel's woken up, but... What happened?"

"Uh, I dunno," said Lloyd, frowning, "she was shouting for Edie, I guess Edie was asleep, or--?"

"I was drowning," I said, a hand at my throat as I recalled the sensation. "I was dreaming," I explained, "and I started hearing that whispering in my dream and then... Colette pulled me out of it."

"I - I think I've been coming back for a while, since Lloyd gave me my birthday present," Colette said, "and then suddenly I just had to move, or something horrible would happen, and... and I did!" She beamed.

"Huh," said Zelos. "Not bad, Lloyd."

"I was so happy," she went on, addressing Lloyd. "Thank you... I was really happy," she repeated, "but there wasn't anything I could do at the time. Sorry."

"It's okay," Lloyd said, grinning as widely as I'd ever seen him, "don't worry about it."

Colette blinked, and looked around. "Where are Genis and Professor Sage? And Sheena?"

"Ozette," Lloyd explained, "you don't remember?"

"It's kind of like a dream," Colette said, "are they - okay?"

"We'll see them soon," I said, reaching out to grab her hand. It was small and warm and even slightly sweaty. "They're gonna be so happy to see you."

I remembered, suddenly, the journal at the bottom of my pack - and how Colette had been there all through my expository conversation with Raine back at the Renegade base. Colette certainly didn't look upset with me, or even afraid or wary. Maybe now wasn't the time. Maybe she didn't remember at all - although I wouldn't count on it. It was enough just to be near her, alive and warm and human, and know she was  _ back _ .

"Well, it's-" Zelos began, but he was interrupted by a high, burbling sound, loud enough to be heard clear across the campsite. Colette blushed.

"Um," she said, "Is there anything left to eat? I think I'm hungry!"

* * *

Colette was back, and the world had changed.

It wasn't only that we escaped the dark of the Forest; it was just having her  _ around _ . Lloyd couldn't stop smiling, and I wasn't much better. I kept taking her hand, just to remind myself she could feel, and asking her about everything if only to hear her speak. There was so much to catch up on, and Colette's memory of the last week or so was hazy at best - but it was hard to talk about some things. Mostly what had happened at the Tower.

She didn't remember most of it, beyond her goodbyes to Lloyd and our miraculous rescue by Botta. She knew the broad strokes just from being around, like Kratos and Remiel and Sheena - but not the specifics. I thought that was probably a good thing; Colette didn't need borrowed trouble, or secondhand nightmares. Lloyd was on the same page.

"It wasn't too bad," he said, at last, "we all got out okay, and now you're okay, everything is going to be all right."

"What is, though?" asked Zelos, "Now that Colette's back to normal, there's no reason to go to Sylvarant, right?" 

I gave him a lopsided smile. "Regretting your choices?"

"I didn't say that," he replied, surprisingly serious, "I mean, what are the next steps?"

"Well... Meet up with, uh, Yuan, right?" Lloyd said. 

"The Renegades?" Zelos squinted. "You sure you can trust those guys?"

"They saved us," offered Colette. "They don't seem all that bad."

" _ They _ were the ones that got the King to hire Sheena, y'know," he frowned.

"Water, bridge," I mimed. "Look, it's complicated, but what's  _ important _ is that we can pass the buck to Raine once we hit Ozette." Zelos snorted.

"If you say so."

Colette and Lloyd drifted forward; I fell back, half-turning while I walked to check that Presea was still there.

She hadn't said a word all day, but that was normal enough. Kuchinawa was there, too, hardly more than a frowning shadow. I kept forgetting he was there - he didn't eat with us, or sleep near us, and he didn't make sound when he walked.

I still couldn't remember  _ who _ he was, and it was starting to get annoying.

"Is something wrong?"

I must have been staring; Kuchinawa asked the question without any kind of inflection. I was bad enough at reading expressions to begin with, and all Kuchinawa had to offer was the strip of skin around his eyes. 

"How do you walk without making any sound?" I asked. 

I  _ thought _ he raised his eyebrows. "Magic."

I slowed so that I could fall into step with him. 

"Can you show me?" I asked.

"No."

"Because it's secret?"

"Yes."

"Ah. Bummer." I dug my hands into my pockets, leaning back so that my walk became more of a saunter. "Soooo, how do you know Sheena? I mean," I frowned, "other than being from Mizuho, obviously."

This time I was sure it was a quirked eyebrow. "What more is there to say?"

"Well," I shrugged, "I'm glad you met up with us. I don't know that I could have kept it together, not knowing if she was okay or not. So. Thanks."

"I'm doing my job," Kuchinawa said.

"Doesn't mean I can't be grateful," I said. "Thanks for sticking with us through the mess in Sybak, too. You didn't have to do that."

That made him pause.

"I'm from Mizuho. The affairs of the Empire aren't my concern."

"Empire," I repeated, considering my shoes. "So Meltokio - I mean, Tethe'alla, apart from Mizuho, is like a unified Empire?" That was hard to believe. Tethe'alla and Sylvarant weren't as big as Earth, but Tethe'alla was still a  _ planet _ . The homogeneity of culture from one to the other felt off to me.

"I suppose."

"I need a real map," I concluded, "I don't get this place."

"Is it so different from the declining world?"

I looked up, surprised. "I mean, yeah. Power in Sylvarant is super... decentralized, I think is the word. Desians mean that no one city-state can get too big, and it's not like anyone has the resources or inclination to go around conquering one another. Might have done, right after Spiritua," I conjectured, "when the world had just started to decline but there were still military powers. I guess. I don't  _ know _ ." I needed better sources that weren't Raine. "Anyway. How do people get around in this place?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I've seen horses and carts and stuff. But you got from Mizuho to Ozette to Sybak, presumably, in like, what, two days? Unless you're hiding a wing pack somewhere..." I gave him a once-over, unsure. He traveled light.

Kuchinawa glanced down at me, eyes glinting. 

"Magic."

"You're laughing at me," I accused. 

"Yes," he agreed.

I gnawed on my lip, thinking. If it wasn't a Rheaird... He could have hitched a ride on a merchant vessel out of Ozette, but even ships would have to take the circuitous route through the mountains to avoid Gaoracchia, and it wasn't a trip you could make in a  _ day _ . He could have rented out a horse and gone right through the Forest at full gallop, but it wasn't the kind of place you took horses, even at a leisurely pace. There was probably a sensible explanation I was missing, but all I could think about was  _ long-distance teleportation. _

I'd gotten pretty good at my brand of teleportation, but it didn't do well over distances greater than thirty yards. Even that little bit could be pushing it, if I was trucking along another person or struggling to orient myself.

"What if I just asked yes or no questions?"

"No."

"Damn."

"I have been assured," Kuchinawa said, after a moment, "that your technique is wholly original." I frowned. I wasn't sure if he was saying there wouldn't be overlap, or if he was probing for information - did he think Sheena taught me? "You would benefit from training."

"I'm trained," I protested, but without any heat.

"By a foot soldier," he observed, nodding at my sheathed sword. "You are obviously unsuited to the fighting style."

"Oy," I said, "I'm doing my best."

"I am surprised," he continued, "that Sheena hasn't seen fit to instruct you."

I frowned again. I had the weird feeling that this was a test.

"Isn't it forbidden, or whatever?"

"Or whatever," he echoed mildly.

A thought came to mind. "You could fight me."

"...And why would I do that?"

"I could learn without being taught," I waved my hands excitedly. "It's been forever since I've fought someone for fun. You're traveling with us until Ozette, right? We could spar tonight, even."

The last person I'd sparred had been Kratos. And then he'd put a stone spear through my heart, so there you go.

"...Very well," Kuchinawa agreed, "I'd like that."

* * *

Zelos made a face. 

"You're fighting for  _ fun _ ?"

I spread my hands. "No, I'm fighting for  _ education _ ."

"That's way worse."

Lloyd was stoking the fire, and Colette was nibbling on waybread with preserves. She kept trying to make conversation with Presea, which was sweet and a bit awkward. Zelos glanced from me to Kuchinawa to the two by the fire, as if deciding on the best target for an appeal to sanity. "Well, don't come running to me for healing if you two hurt yourselves," he said at last, dropping to the ground and pulling over his rucksack. "Geez, you people."

It was a warm night, the strange foreboding of the forest hours behind us, and there were fireflies low on the hills near the distant riverbank. The smell of woodsmoke perfumed the air, and the darkening sky was a deep, dusty lavender. Kuchinawa beckoned me a little ways away from the camp, towards a slope of long, emerald grass. The deep red of his robes should have stood out against the grass, even in the semidarkness, but there was something about his posture and stance that made him into a natural part of the landscape.

"Terms of engagement?" he asked.

"Er. No maiming?" I said, not expecting the question. I had sparred with Kratos and Lloyd plenty of times, and no one had ever needed to specify  _ no slicing bits off _ , but Kuchinawa was still half a stranger to me. I shrugged. "Have fun."

Kuchinawa nodded. 

I had no idea what Sheena had told him about me, but I felt like I had an upper hand. He had never seen me fight, not really, and if he and Sheena used the same general style - then I had the advantage. There had been monsters on the road, yes, and in the Forest, but I had defaulted to a frontline position with the sword. It had felt natural at the time, but now, asked to hold my own weapons again, I could see what I had been doing; trying to fill the gap in our formation left by Kratos.

He'd been the one to drill me on healing magic, not Raine, and I was used to the way he and Lloyd worked together. Before, in Sylvarant, I had been a kind of... ancillary force, bouncing between support and frontline as people needed me. Without Kratos, there was no one else who could take his place. 

Zelos might be able to, in time, but he didn't get along with Lloyd and he wasn't  _ used _ to us, not yet.

"Go?" I suggested, because Kuchinawa hadn't made a move.

"Go," he agreed.

I dropped into place behind him even as he moved to parry me, my dagger scraping on the ceramic of his arm guard as he brought his other hand up, a blow that would have struck me in the diaphragm if I hadn't gotten out of the way in time. He was fast - not as fast as Yuan or Kratos, but faster than Sheena, and no one else could match me for speed. 

He didn't hesitate, moving forward out of the defensive stance and into a brutal series of jabs and twisty acrobatic attempted takedowns, some of which I avoided and some of which hit home, each point of contact stinging with the promise of a very, very bad bruise. He had an economy of motion that made it impossible for me to guess how he would move until he was already moving, and by then it was too late. I had underestimated him, and now I was paying for it.

I was trying  _ not _ to rely on teleportation, because Kuchinawa had implied - or I had self-consciously inferred - that it was a crutch, but Kuchinawa's strategy of relentless close-up assault wasn't something I could match.

I wasn't sure I could take him, even if I  _ was _ teleporting everywhere. Because, no matter how mobile, I still had to take him down - and he was too fast. The moment I made contact I was forced back onto the defense; in a real fight, I'd have to put my hopes on striking a decisive killing blow before he could draw me into melee.

He didn't use cards, like Sheena, but he didn't need to - he had an apparently endless reserve of paper notes, each with a unique magical effect, and there was something about the surface of his palms that added an extra dimension of pain to every hit. 

"Uncle!" I pleaded, at last, hands thrown up in a gesture of peace.

"Uncle?" Kuchinawa repeated, bemused.

"I forfeit," I translated. "Owwww." I rubbed my hands together, trying to get the feeling back into them. 

"Thank you," said Kuchinawa, tucking something back into his belt, "that was illuminating."

"If the point of the lesson was 'you suck at hand-to-hand', consider it learned," I complained, massaging my elbows. I was sore all over, but it was a good kind of sore - the 'adrenaline without fear for my life' kind of sore. I'd missed it. 

"It was not a lesson," Kuchinawa said, tone suddenly sharp in a way that suggested I had been over-familiar. I blinked.

"Right. Uh," I scraped a hank of hair behind one ear. "Are you gonna be sticking with us? After tomorrow, I mean?" I had no idea how long-term Kuchinawa's mission was, or what it entailed beyond seeing us to Ozette.

"Unlikely," he said.

I frowned. I was used to spars as a kind of bonding experience - a kind of sporting camaraderie, but this wasn't that. Kuchinawa took his leave without another word, and I stood there in the long grass, feeling oddly dissatisfied. Had I offended him somehow? Had calling it a 'lesson' been some kind of cultural faux-pas? It wasn't as if we had been on the road to being best buds, but it still bothered me. The night air suddenly seemed too humid, and I tugged off my armor, not bothering to undo the clasps.

I had been looking forward to the fight all day, and now...

I missed Kratos. 

The sentiment clambered to the top of my thoughts, heavy and unwelcome. 

I stared up at the moon, annoyed with myself, and with the world. We just needed to get to Ozette, and to Raine and Genis and Sheena; we would all be together again, and things would be okay. 

* * *

"So, don't get mad, but," Zelos said, "You should probably put your hood up."

I gave him a look. "What? Why?" 

Ozette lay only an hour away, nested in a bramble of black branches. It was one of a half-dozen villages, each smaller than the last, secluded in seams of dark firs and wild forest. We had, for a little while, been out of the shadow of the woods, but now the road turned inward again, squeezed between river and impassible mountainside, and with it had returned that faint sense of foreboding. It felt like the kind of place where little girls went all alone to grandmother's house and ended up as a stomachache.

"Ozette is notoriously  _ not _ a friendly place for half-elves," he told me. "And that's  _ me _ saying that."

I raised my eyebrows. " _ You _ thought I was an elf when we first met."

Zelos shrugged. "Yeah, but... you know, better safe than sorry."

I sighed. "I don't get you. You seem too rational for..." I waved a hand. "All that crap."

Zelos glanced down at me. " _ I _ seem rational?"

"I mean, you're obviously smart," I said, "I dunno. I don't get it."

He gave me a thin smile. "What don't you get? You're the first half-elf I've ever had a conversation with. It's just - I grew up hearing people always telling me it was wrong, you know? 'Half-elves are mistakes'." He looked somewhere between rueful and resigned. "It's not like people have them on purpose. Why would you ever wanna subject a kid to a life like that?"

I thought about my parents - about the cost of fertility clinics and all the stuff my mom had done to have me so late in life. They always talked about it, how much  _ money _ it had been and it was always in a tone of awe and gratitude, like they would have spent ten times as much and I still would have been their little miracle. We were comfortable, and I'd been spoiled, but the real outstanding aspect to my childhood was that I had been deeply, obviously beloved. Somehow I thought Zelos wouldn't appreciate it as a counterargument.

"I mean, everyone's kind of a mistake," I shrugged. "The whole world is made up of mistakes. That's physics. Nine times out of ten people are just following instinct. Mistaking instinct for reason, you know? We're all just animals," I said. "And it's not like a pigeon is that different from a parrot, in the long run. A year or a century - in the end it's still just some dead bird."

"...Well, that's dark," said Zelos.

"It's not, really," I said. "Look, think of it this way. Even if we pull this whole thing off, the world-saving or whatever, and the whole world comes together in mutual cooperation or some bull, nothing lasts forever. One day we're all gonna be dead and the world's still gonna be going on, doing its thing, and maybe in another couple thousand years there's a massive war and everything gets fucked again."

"Yeah, not really seeing the bright side to this," Zelos said.

"I mean that time is going to pass, but we're still here, right now," I said. "What we do isn't pointless because we're still  _ there _ , doing it."

"And what if you're miserable?" Zelos asked. "What if every moment of your life is pain? What's the point of that?"

"Because it's literally all we have," I said. "We don't  _ have _ anything else. It's like..." I tried to find a metaphor. "Even if it's awful, there's always the chance that it  _ won't _ be, and the only other option is no chance at all."

Zelos laughed. "Weren't we talking about half-elves?"

"We  _ are _ talking about half-elves," I said. 

"Well, I guess you answered your own question, then," he observed.

"Huh?"

"Why I don't like half-elves," he said, without much humor. "They're not like me, and that makes them bad. Instinct, like you said."

That was such a miserable way of thinking about the world; no wonder Zelos wanted out.

"Meh, you'll get over it," I said at last. "Just need some exposure therapy."

"Well, if you wanted me  _ exposed _ ," Zelos waggled his eyebrows, "you only had to say."

* * *

I put on the hood, in the end.

Ozette was a town built into the gnarled roots of a giant tree. Whether it was  _ the _ giant tree, I couldn't know; each tendril was wider than a two-lane road, and many were larger, large enough to allow two buildings to sit opposite one another with a road between. Some parts of the tree looked to be still alive, putting forth new growth so dwarfed by the surroundings as to be invisible; some parts had a dull hardness that suggested the tree had petrified over time, rather than rot. Carpets of dense green moss grew over everything; the town, canopied beneath the tangled forest, had a sense of being in perpetual twilight.

Lanterns burned, even at mid-morning, and there was a strange, musty smell on the breeze that prickled up from beneath the general freshness of the forest air.

We had only just passed the gates when Presea broke from the party to jog ahead.

"Well, bye, I guess," said Zelos, as Presea disappeared into the bramble of cottages and natural byways. "She was in a hurry."

"Is she going to be okay?" asked Colette, worrying at a lock of blonde hair. "We should go after her."

"You are expected at the inn," Kuchinawa reminded us. 

"She'll be fine," Zelos reassured Colette, "You've seen her. We can go check up on her later, yeah?"

"Well - okay," Colette agreed.

"This place is kind of..." Lloyd trailed off. 

I could see what he meant.

Kuchinawa lead us upwards past shops and thatched houses, across a plank bridge and up a long flight of stairs carved into the living wood. There was a preternatural silence to the place, like Gaoracchia, but worse, because we were not alone. Gaunt faces watched us from windows and stoops, from behind a shop stall, from a crowded paddock, without pretense or concealment. They fell silent when we came into view, and whispered only when we had gone on far ahead. 

"They're talking about Presea," Colette murmured, "about how they'd hoped she'd gone away. Why would they say something like that?"

"Dunno," Zelos muttered, "But best to keep moving. Doesn't look like we're getting the welcome wagon."

"Glad I took your advice," I admitted, in an undertone. I had lived in the Midwest, in places where you could drive for hours and not see another living soul - but Ozette had the feeling of confinement, not of space. It felt like the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, probably on account of being related. 

Meat raffles were common enough where I came from, but you could usually count on it being beef or pork, and not freshly-butchered tourist.

The innkeeper was friendly enough, at least, and directed us upstairs.

" _ Lloyd! _ "

"Genis!"

"Colette?"

"Sheena!"

I grinned, tugging the hood down around my shoulders and wading past the kids to embrace first Raine, and then Sheena. It became very crowded; it was more of a bunkroom than a hotel room, but Raine, Genis and Sheena were not alone. Another Mizuhoan, in blue rather than Kuchinawa's red, was seated in the corner, and gave us a nod of acknowledgment as we piled in. 

"Orochi," said Kuchinawa.

"Brother," returned Orochi, with a little more warmth.

Sheena was seated on the end of one bunk, her hair in a low bun. I looked her over, eyes searching for any trace of injury or sickness, but she looked fine - healthy, even, as if she'd had a few more square meals over the intervening days. 

"I'm fine," she said after a moment, smiling at me. "Undine kept me from falling into the ocean, and then Raine and Genis showed up. Raine told me about the Rheairds," she continued. "I'm glad you guys are okay." She reached out, took my hand, and gave it a quick squeeze. "More than okay, I guess," she said, looking at Colette. They shared a long, teary look. "I'm so glad you're back."

"I'm glad to be back," said Colette, and gave Sheena another hug. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"I'm sorry we couldn't meet you earlier," said Raine, more soberly, "but we couldn't risk the flight back."

"Turns out Lloyd here is kind of a miracle-worker," said Zelos, clapping Lloyd on the back. "Everything ended up okay, in the end."

"I see that," Raine said, smiling at Colette. "You were able to find what you needed at Sybak?"

"We got arrested," Lloyd blurted.

"What?" demanded Genis.

"Come on, Lloyd, you can break it a little easier than that," chided Zelos. "It's  _ fine _ , the Pope's guys were just stalking us and accused me - and by extension, you guys - of some light treason, nothing to worry about." He looked sideways at me, as if asking a question.

"They tried to haul me off for being a half-elf," I explained, "They had these blood tester things. But I got away."

"For being a half-elf?" Genis echoed.

"'Caste deception'," agreed Zelos, "any half-elf in Tethe'alla accused of a crime is pretty much automatically guilty. Hey,  _ I _ didn't make the law," he said, because Lloyd was scowling at him again.

"Oh," mumbled Genis.

"Shut up," I advised Zelos, patting him on the shoulder. "The point is that we got the info we needed and Colette is back, although," I paused, and gave Raine a look, "We might wanna have a dwarf look at the Crest. Cruxis Crystals might interact differently with Crests and the body than Exspheres, and I'd rather head anything nasty off at the pass." Raine nodded, although Lloyd and Zelos looked bemused. There wasn't really  _ precedent,  _ but... "You remember what the Unicorn said?"

Sheena perked up. "About Martel's illness? Right, if Colette is supposed to be the perfect vessel, or whatever..."

Lloyd frowned. From his position, we'd  _ dealt _ with Colette - he hadn't foreseen  _ more _ trouble. "Wait, so Colette might get sick? Why?"

"Mana signatures are not always indicative of genetics, but they are certainly correlative," Raine interjected before I could make a fool of myself, "but if Martel was ill in a way that could only be cured by the magic of a Unicorn, it must have been a very unusual malady. If Martel was susceptible to some rare physical disorder, or more troubling, to a mana disorder, then Colette might be at risk, too. It would be best to keep an eye on it."

It was a bit suspect if you actually listened to what she was saying, but the authority and tone were there, and I nodded along.

"Right," Lloyd said, "you'll let us know if you feel funny, right?" He asked Colette, "I'll look after you, whatever happens."

Zelos made a noise. "You can just say cheesy stuff like that and everyone takes you seriously? Man, I can't believe you guys."

"Shut up," snapped Sheena, mood disturbed, "you say cheesy stuff all the time."

"I can't deny the language of love when-"

" _ At any rate _ ," Raine interrupted, "now that we're all in one place, we should discuss what happens next."

"On that note," said Orochi, getting to his feet, "we have a great deal to talk about."

* * *

There was a lot to talk about. Orochi was here representing Mizuho, and Mizuho had decided to ally themselves with the Renegades. The news that we'd been declared traitors to the crown only cemented that decision - Sheena was the current face of Mizuho, and any accusation leveled at her was leveled at the whole village. There hadn't been any kind of public declaration - Mizuho played things close to the vest - but the fact that we were here at all spoke volumes.

"So we do have a line of contact with the Renegades?" I confirmed.

"Yes," agreed Orochi, "we've had agents with them for some time now, and official overtures have been made. I'm here on behalf of both Mizuho and the Renegades."

"So what now?" asked Lloyd. "Yuan said something about... something?"

"Mana links," sighed Raine. "Right now, the Great Seed is being prevented from germinating. The same links that restrain the Great Seed are the same tethering Sylvarant to Tethe'alla. The anchor points of those links, if you will, are the Summon Spirits. Yuan also mentioned another Spirit, Origin, who gave Mithos the power to sunder the world in two, although I would have to seek out more information on the subject."

"They want me to make pacts with the other Summon Spirits," Sheena nutshell. "If I can make new pacts, then Mithos' will be dissolved, and the Great Seed will be able to grow, I think."

"The other issue is mobility," Raine continued. "To move between the two worlds, we have to be able to use the Rheairds."

"What do they run on?" asked Lloyd, "Coal?"

"We've  _ talked _ about this," Genis said, but Lloyd was grinning at him, and Genis kicked him in the shin. "Don't talk if you don't have anything useful to say."

"Doesn't Mizuho have some kind of power source we could use?" Lloyd carried on, ignoring him. "We've got to use them  _ some _ how. They run on, like, magic, right?"

Raine looked at Sheena, who had gone still. She was waiting for Sheena to say it.

"There's a way," Sheena volunteered at last, staring at her knees. "I just need to form a pact with Volt."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (ralph wiggum laugh) im in danger


	17. Ozette, Altessa

"Volt?" asked Lloyd, bewildered by the chilly atmosphere. "You mean, like a cellar?"

"That's a _vault_ , Lloyd," sighed Raine, "Volt is the Summon Spirit of Lightning."

Lloyd brightened. "Oh! Well, that's fine, isn't it? Since that's what we're doing, anyway."

"It's - not that easy," Sheena said, gaze fixed on the floor. "Volt isn't _like_ Undine. He's too strong, and... I'm not sure if I can."

"Of course you can!" insisted Lloyd, "You're Sheena! Besides, we're all a team again," he went on, "We're all gonna have your back, so you don't need to worry."

"It's not that simple," Sheena replied. She was beginning to turn red - not the rosy flush of embarrassment, but the blotchy red of someone on the edge of a meltdown. Orochi half-stood, looking unsure, and Raine put a gentle hand on Sheena's shoulder. Raine looked uncomfortable and terribly out of her depth; Raine was someone who went cold under pressure, not hot, and Genis wasn't the kind of kid who needed a soft touch. "I can't just - you don't understand."

"Sheena," Raine said, trying for soothing, "there's no need to get upset, I'm sure-"

"You don't _understand_ ," Sheena repeated, breath coming quickly. Then it became too much; she wrestled her way out from under Raine's hand and through the clustered room and fumbled with the doorknob for a moment before throwing herself out into the hall. We could hear the thump of feet on steps. It had all happened very fast - I stood, knees creaking.

"She's panicking," I said, "I'll go talk to her, you lot -"

"Hang on," said Zelos, "maybe let Lloyd do it, you probably shouldn't be wandering around out there." 

"Do what?" Lloyd asked, frustrated, "why is Sheena-?"

"I'm afraid Sheena has faced Volt once before," said Orochi, somber. "Many of our people were lost in the attempt, and Sheena still blames herself."

"It's a pretty famous incident," admitted Zelos.

"So that's why -" Genis began, but didn't finish the thought. We all knew how anxious Sheena had been in the lead-up to Undine. It was a reasonable fear all on its own, but the context made it much worse. 

"Many were surprised at the news she had successfully formed a pact with Undine," Kuchinawa volunteered. 

"Some in the village still blame her for it," Orochi agreed. "It is why she has so often taken missions that would keep her out of Mizuho. I'm sorry; I didn't know she still felt so strongly about it."

"She's been worrying about that by herself this whole time?" Lloyd asked, more to the room at large than to anyone in particular. 

"Well, either you go," I said, annoyed, "or I will."

"Lloyd and I can go together," decided Colette, taking Lloyd's hand, "we'll make sure she's okay."

"Uh, yeah," Lloyd agreed, allowing Colette to tow him out of the room.

"...I'm sorry," said Raine, after the door had swung shut again, "that was more dramatic than I expected."

I sighed. 

What had she imagined? It was a small room to begin with, crowded with people, and they'd put Sheena on the spot. Lloyd hadn't known it was a sensitive topic - how could he have known? But then Sheena had probably downplayed her anxiety about it right up until the plan became official - that wasn't Raine's fault, and it wasn't even Orochi's. And now _I_ was worked up because it was hard to see Sheena in pain.

"They'll be all right," I decided, "Lloyd and Colette are good with her."

"If that's all," said Kuchinawa, "I should be leaving."

Orochi stood. "One moment. I'll be traveling with you, but first we need to settle the matter of transportation. The Isle of Lightning is far north across the Storm Sea. Mizuho no longer has any vessels capable of making the journey, even with Undine's assistance. You will either have to travel up the coast and make the trip across the island strait, or find passage out of Sybak. I'm sorry we can't be of more help."

Raine got to her feet. "You've already done more than we expected. Thank you again, for everything." I glanced between them, recalling that Orochi had probably been hanging out here with her and Sheena and Genis for a few days now. I was a little jealous.

"It was my pleasure," returned Orochi.

"Stop making that face," Raine scolded me, after they'd gone. "This is hardly the time."

I deflated, all the tension flooding out of me at once. It was just so _good_ to have everyone together again. _We were going to be okay_. I flopped down onto the bunk between her and Genis, turned so I could make doe eyes at her. "So mean," I whined, puffing out my cheeks and sticking out my lower lip, "and we only just met up again!"

She nudged me with her leg so that I wobbled backwards into Genis, who shoved me off, annoyed.

"You're heavy," he complained, but he was grinning. "Where's Presea?"

I slid onto the floor, and Genis prodded me with his foot. "She went back to her house, I think. We can go check on her after the others get back."

Raine nodded to herself. "We need to resupply, too. Genis and I have more or less been sequestered here since we arrived. It's not a very hospitable village," she added. 

"Yeah, we noticed," I agreed.

" _Speaking_ of which," said Zelos, "we probably shouldn't stay here too long. People respect Mizuhoans around here, but I'm not sure what the vibe's gonna be now that they skipped town."

"Why are you still here, anyway?" asked Genis, surprisingly sour.

"Watch it, brat," Zelos said, scowling over at him, "In case you weren't listening, I'm wanted for treason 'cause of you guys. You should be _thanking_ me!"

"Chill out, you two," I said, "you're ruining my mood."

"At any rate," said Raine, ignoring them, "I'd personally like to go to Sybak. I'm tired of charging ahead with so little information; we know roughly where the Temples are located, but we need information on Cruxis, and on Yggdrasill. If we proceed as we are right now we risk an eternal cycle of reacting to new threats - I won't have us stumbling blindly into another situation like the Tower."

"The Renegades didn't offer up more info?" I asked, and then shook my head. Of course they hadn't. "Well, great."

"I get where you're coming from," said Zelos, sprawling into the chair Orochi had vacated, "but I gotta remind you guys about the whole 'treason' thing. Sybak's an imperial city - they're gonna have it guarded. I can probably get you guys in, but I dunno how much research you'll be able to do with the Papal Knights sticking their noses in everything."

"We'll have to deal with them one way or another," countered Raine. "They know we haven't crossed back to the western continent, and there are only so many roads you could have taken from Sybak."

Zelos sighed. "Yeahhh, they're probably gonna come after us, but I'd rather not make it _easy_ for 'em."

"Can't _you_ do something about it?" asked Genis, "I mean, you're the Chosen."

"Chosen and traitor to the throne," Zelos rolled his eyes. "I never said I wouldn't help, I'm just saying it's not gonna be easy."

"I don't get it," I sighed, "the Renegades have to have resources, right? Why not help out?"

Raine frowned. "It's a fair question. It seems to me that they're fighting a battle on many fronts, and that we're not necessarily a priority. If they _are_ fighting Cruxis, than it may be integral to their survival to minimize contact with us. On that note..." She paused, drumming her fingers on the bedpost, "Don't you think it's strange that Cruxis has allowed us to get this far? If they have a line of communication with the Church, then they would already know that we survived. I'm surprised we haven't encountered... resistance," she said, rather than name names.

"Maybe the Papal Knights following us to Sybak _was_ the resistance," I suggested. "If I was Mithos, I'd want to deal with the whole 'Chosen rebelled and ran away' thing as discreetly as possible. Besides," I went on, "I think the Tower is the point they'd be using to go back and forth, because the other one is a Renegade transport, so their mobility might be limited."

"That's another thing," agreed Raine, "I wish we knew how they were traveling. If Yggdrasill and his angels are truly omnipotent, then they would have been able to follow us when the Renegades intervened." She paused. "If they were truly omnipotent, the Renegades would have long since been eliminated. Or they serve some other purpose to Cruxis that we don't yet know."

I shook my head. "No, I don't think it's that twisty. Yuan-" I paused. Had I told her that he was one of the Four Seraphim? I couldn't remember, and I didn't want to get into the specifics in front of Zelos and Genis. I shrugged. "I think they're limited somehow. It might just be a question of maintaining their image and authority," I conceded, "but it might be an attitude thing. Think about how long Mithos has been around," I said, waving a hand. "This probably doesn't seem like a big deal to Cruxis. I doubt it's the first hiccup they've had, and it's definitely not the first time they've had to dispose of a Chosen."

Raine nodded, thoughtful. "Then they may not react with full force unless they consider us a dire threat. That's good."

I was really, really grateful that Raine was in on the grift now, because playing dumb in the face of all of this would have been incredibly painful.

"Another thing," I said, clasping my hands around my knees, "Yuan said that both him _and_ Cruxis can track Colette by her mana signature, which means they can probably track Zelos, too. Have we got any idea how they'd be doing that? Is there any way to _prevent_ it?"

"Hm. I have no idea," Raine admitted. "It may be a kind of divinatory spell, but it might also be some kind of magitechnology." She sighed. "It would be nice to have a question I am able to answer from time to time."

"Hang on," said Zelos, "I might know something about that." I raised my eyebrows at him. "Geez, don't look so surprised. I _am_ the Chosen. A couple years back I helped out with this mana signature study at Sybak. They took blood samples and everything - if anyone knows about stuff like that..."

Raine beamed. "Then we _should_ return to Sybak. I'm glad you agree."

Zelos folded his arms. "It's not like I enjoy the idea of Cruxis knowing where I am _either_ , y'know."

"I wish we didn't have to go back through the Forest," I admitted.

Zelos was thoughtful for a moment.

"Y'know, word about us might not have gotten out this far yet. We might be able to hitch a ride on a merchant vessel heading back that way."

Raine made a face. "I'd prefer not to travel by boat, but if it's faster and safer, then it's certainly the better option."

"Worth trying," I agreed.

The door creaked open; Colette entered, leading Lloyd and a puffy-eyed Sheena behind her. 

"Um," Sheena said, "sorry about all that."

I got up, arms open in the overture to a hug. Sheena gave me a back-breaking squeeze. 

"You don't have to apologize," I said, when she'd let me go. "We don't get to choose what hurts us."

"Yeah," she agreed, voice thick.

"Don't worry, Sheena," insisted Genis, "We won't let you down, no matter what!"

"Thanks," she grinned, "I know you won't. I won't let you down, either."

"Aw, that's so sweet," said Zelos, "now how about a hug for your old pal Zel- oww!"

"You're not my pal," protested Sheena, "don't ruin the moment!"

I patted him on the shoulder, trying not to laugh. Zelos had a face for slapstick, and it was hard to feel too bad for him when he used _that_ voice. "I'm sure you can catch up later," I said, soothingly, "when everyone's calmed down a bit."

"I _am_ calm," argued Sheena.

"Sheena's always angry," sighed Zelos, "it's one of her more attractive traits."

"Um, maybe we should go find Presea?" suggested Colette, in an attempt at peacemaking. "We didn't even get a chance to say goodbye!"

Genis nodded, hopping off the bunk, "Y-yeah, that's a great idea!"

"You'd think we were the only adults," Raine sighed at me, as if she didn't complain about me being childish nearly all the time. I grinned. "Let's go before it gets late. Do you know where she went?"

* * *

Ozette wasn't big; Presea's house was hard to find, even if it made the rest of the town look positively urban. 

It was nearly fifteen minutes down the mountain, sequestered by black firs and half-surrounded by a ruined stone wall. The lawn, if you could call it that, was overgrown with scrubby trees and wildflowers and tall weeds; the only route to the front porch was a line of trampled yellow grass.

The house was large - clearly a family home - but it was falling apart. Or rather, it _had_ fallen apart; the right half of the roof had buckled, and the porch had collapsed, subsumed by plant life. The windows were grimy and opaque, some panes broken and boarded, shutters hanging or broken. The supports were overgrown with ivy and pitted with old hornet nests, and the glassed-in lantern over the gate was entirely black with soot. A tiny outhouse was hidden by the gate, nearly enveloped by the trees.

An animal carcass - a large rabbit? - was rotting on the stoop, and the rain barrel was overflowing with scummy green-grey water. The yard was full of trash - rusted tools, soggy old planks, bones, rags, broken bottles - even freshly rotting food. 

"Presea lives here?" asked Genis, face screwed up against the smell.

"It doesn't seem very safe," said Colette, fingers twisting together.

I glanced sidelong at Raine. "Lloyd talked to some researchers in Sybak - Presea is some kind of guinea pig for making Cruxis Crystals. I'm not sure that she's..." _all there_ , I didn't say.

"We promised we'd help," Lloyd said, scowling, "I didn't know it was going to be this bad, though."

We gathered on the ruined porch. There was no doubt Presea was inside - her axe leaned against the doorframe, and we could hear her moving around inside. Lloyd knocked; the door swung open, unlocked and unlatched.

Presea stood at the far end of the room at a potbellied stove; putrid smoke seeped along the ceiling, and something viscous boiled in a large cast-iron pan. A plate of rotten potatoes was pooled with black ichor, and a string of moldering sausages hung from the rafters alongside a wreath of shriveled onions and a bundle of slimy, blackened carrots. 

There were only two rooms - this one, which seemed to be both kitchen and workshop, and the second, smaller room, a bedpost just visible through the open doorway. 

Presea didn't seem to notice us; she was busy, scraping rancid butter onto hard bread and arranging cracked plates on a wooden tray. 

Then a smell wafted over me - not rot, not decay, but a musky, floral smell - a cologne? - and for a moment I thought I was going to die.

It was entirely irrational, and no one else seemed to notice, but the smell - barely a note in the symphony of putrefaction - struck me through like a freezing bolt, icing over my insides and making my heart spasm. Adrenaline flooded me, and I began to sweat; my hands were shaking, and I couldn't _breathe_. And then, when nothing happened - when nothing had attacked me, when I was still standing - the feeling passed. I stared around at the others, but they were dealing with a different kind of horror - no one else had felt it. It was only me.

I felt wrung-out, exhausted, and it was only as I looked around at the filth and dust that I remembered why we were here.

Presea took the tray of rotten food - greasy silverware beside a grimy glass of brown water - into the next room. Raine followed, and there was an awful noise.

"It's..." She covered her mouth. "What is this?"

The thing in the bed was hardly more than a skeleton. The sheets were thin and motheaten, oily and brown with what remained of the mummified tissue. There was other evidence of Presea's ministrations - linen bandages on bare bone and empty tonic bottles on the bedside table. Presea sat on a crumbling wooden stool, spooning brown-grey glop into what remained of a mouth.

"How could this happen?" Sheena asked, voice choked.

"How long has she..." Lloyd trailed off. "Is this the Exsphere?"

Raine turned away, hand passing over her face. "Most likely. I can't be certain, but..."

"P-presea," Genis edged forward. I couldn't help but think how brave it was, to approach Presea as she sat beside the corpse of her father, scraping soup from the broken bowl. His knees were shaking, and his face was grey, but he put a hand on her shoulder, pleading. "Presea, you'll come with us, right?"

Presea didn't look up.

"I must do my job."

"She doesn't know what's going on," Raine said. "She probably doesn't understand what's happened."

"We can't just leave her here," Lloyd burst out. "This is awful!"

"I don't think we'll be able to make her leave," said Raine, "not without force."

"Didn't Kate mention some Dwarf?" Zelos said. "Altessa, right? He was part of the experiment in the first place. If anyone can help..."

"Can we talk about this outside?" I suggested. "I think I'm gonna throw up."

Raine nodded gratefully, and we reconvened by the stoop.

The air outside, however foul, was stark relief compared to the stale stench inside the house. I sat on the stone stoop, head between my legs, while Raine interrogated Lloyd and Zelos about what had happened in Sybak.

"A Dwarf was involved in all this?"

Lloyd nodded. "The researchers at Sybak said they were trying to make artificial Cruxis Crystals, and Presea was one of the hosts. She's got some kind of special Key Crest. I didn't wanna mess with it," he added, "not if she ended up like Clara or my mom. Kate said that Altessa left the project and took pretty much all the information with him."

"Hm. We did want to have a Dwarf inspect Colette's Cruxis Crystal," Raine mused. "I suppose it's worth asking. Is there anything you could do for her in the meantime?"

Lloyd winced. "...Not really. Sorry."

Raine shook her head. "It's not your job to worry about it. Alright. Let's head back to Ozette for today. We still need to resupply, and hopefully some of the locals will know where Altessa lives."

"Can we really just leave her here?" asked Genis. 

"She's survived here this long," I said, climbing to my feet. "We'll help her out, okay?" I pulled him into my side, half to steady myself and half to comfort him. He nodded, looking at the ground. "Come on. I need a bath."

Anything to get rid of that smell.

* * *

We didn't hang around.

I slept badly, woken up briefly by a bad dream I couldn't remember, and rose in the morning with a pounding headache. Everyone else had already gone - I was rarely the last one up, if ever, and I felt vaguely ill.

"Here," said Zelos, pushing a mug into my hands, "You look awful."

I squinted down at the cup. "Coffee," I said, in dim recognition.

"That's the stuff," he agreed. "The girl at the desk was pretty friendly, once she got talking. She even put milk and sugar in that one." He grinned, dropping down into the chair near the bedside table and taking a long sip from his own chipped cup. He didn't look so good, either, once I looked over. His eyes were bruised purple with lack of sleep, his skin dull and too pale, his hair a little limp. I doubted anyone had slept well after yesterday. 

"You're the best," I said, eyes drifting shut. The coffee was milky and very sweet - the only kind I could stomach. I thought about asking how he'd guessed - but it was probably just coincidence. 

"Anyway, sleepyhead, the others are out doing the shopping," he told me, lounging on the stiff wooden chair as if it were a throne, "so we're gonna be leaving in a while. Turns out this Altessa guy is just down the mountain."

"Neat."

We lapsed into comfortable silence.

I began to feel slightly more human - or half-elf, if you were being pedantic - and after some time, my brain started to work again. I blinked, and put down my empty cup. Zelos was leaning back in his chair, a book propped open on his lap. 

"What are you reading?" I asked, padding around in my sheets for my hair tie. It'd fallen out during the night, which meant my hair had probably dried funny. Oh well. 

"Dunno," Zelos said, "but there's a lot of bodice-ripping."

"Love a good bodice-ripper," I said, knotting back the top bit of my hair and letting the rest of it go wherever - plenty of it was still damp. "How are the bosoms? Heaving?"

"With anticipation, you might say," Zelos said, glancing over. "You about ready to go?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, one minute." I pulled on my boots, and gave the bunk a once-over, just in case I'd shed something else mid-nightmare. I hadn't; I chucked my bag over my shoulder and gave Zelos a tired grin. "So, the bosoms are heaving, the bodices are ripping - tell me about the loins - quivering? I gotta know about these _loins_."

Raine and Genis were waiting in the front room - what could generously be called the hotel lobby. 

"You're finally up," Raine observed, "are you all right?"

I must have looked bad if Raine was asking. "I'm okay, just tired." On cue, I yawned into my hand. "Zelos said the guy is actually pretty close?"

Raine nodded. "The southern gate is by Presea's house." She frowned. "The word around town is that Altessa is quite reclusive and misanthropic. He sometimes hires couriers to bring supplies down the mountain, but nobody has much of anything to say about him. Given the local attitude towards outsiders, it may be simple xenophobia, but..."

"We'd best be on good behavior?" I guessed.

Raine nodded.

"I've been wondering," she said, as the four of us gathered our things and set off from the inn and down into the village, "why it is that Colette returned when she did. If she had come back to herself when Lloyd attached the Key Crest, I might have understood, but why the forest?"

I hadn't had a chance to talk one-on-one with Raine since meeting up again, which was a bit of a problem - I needed to talk to her about Colette, and not just because of the Key Crest. The sooner Raine knew about the crystal thing the better.

"I think for the same reason Cruxis sends the Desians after the Chosen. The development of the Cruxis Crystal is about stress, right? So maybe it took extreme stress or danger for the Key Crest to 'engage' with the Cruxis Crystal?" I shrugged. "I dunno, to be honest. There was definitely something spooky going on in that forest," I went on, "but only Presea and I seemed to be affected. _And_ it eased up a lot after Colette 'woke up', so to speak."

Raine frowned. "It's too bad we weren't able to get more information from the Asgard base. Kvar's research... whatever he was trying to do with Lloyd's Exsphere is probably similar to what's happening with Presea and Colette. 'Angelus Project' is fairly telling, once you consider angels as no more than augmented half-elves."

I nodded. "Right. Huh. I wonder if they're related. Not just in terms of an end-goal," I said, waving a hand, "but in terms of... I mean, was Kvar sharing information with Sybak? I'd think so, but all the Grand Cardinals seemed... badly informed. He said," I screwed up my face, trying to recall Kvar's monologuing, "he _said_ it was supposed to be a gift for Yggdrasill. Which..."

"Implies he wasn't aware of the Cruxis Crystal's true nature," Raine agreed.

"And it's not like Cruxis has trouble making angels," I went on, "So either Kvar and Sybak are doing their own thing with limited information, or they really are doing something different from what Cruxis already has going on. New and improved angels?"

Raine straightened. "The 'Age of Lifeless Beings'," she recalled, "Yuan said that was Yggdrasill's 'next step'. So either Kvar and the others are pawns - or being allowed to spin their wheels while Yggdrasill concentrates on some separate initiative."

"'Lifeless beings'?" repeated Zelos, making a face. "The guy wants to turn everyone into Exspheres?"

"Not literally, I don't think," sighed Raine, "but near enough."

"Very much 'people aren't playing in my sandbox the way I want, so I'm going to nuke the sandbox'," I observed.

"Nuke?" asked Genis. 

"Blow up," I clarified.

Genis made a quiet, dissatisfied noise. "I don't get it. If Mithos is a half-elf, why are half-elves suffering so much here?" He made an aborted gesture - the village wasn't crowded right now, and it was still light out, but there was still the overhanging sense of menace. "Like what you said about Sybak. That's awful."

"Well, squirt," said Zelos, "if you get down to it, there's just two species that matter, and that's the powerful and the powerless."

I glanced over at him. "That's a pretty accurate analysis, actually."

"Like in Meltokio," Zelos continued, "plenty of humans are living in the slums and suffering. It doesn't make half-elves better off, or anything," he said, a hand raised in innocent defense, "but you get a place like Meltokio and you end up with some people in mansions and some people in shacks. It's just how it is."

"Divide and conquer," I agreed. "I bet a poor half-elf is worse off than a poor human, but that means you'll never get them uniting against unfair conditions. The people on top are putting in extra sub-strata to keep people fighting one another. Like it or not, it's the same thing Mithos is doing with the Regeneration cycles - keeping people down so they can't upset his status quo. It's nasty," I conceded, "but it _functions_."

"That doesn't make it okay," Genis argued.

"It doesn't make it okay," I agreed, "that's why we're doing what we're doing, right?"

"That's pretty optimistic," Zelos said. "You think in four thousand years - or whatever - that no one's tried to stop the guy?"

I shrugged. "They probably have. But they haven't been us."

Genis rallied. "Yeah, they haven't been us!"

"If you say so," Zelos shrugged. "I'm just saying, there's no sense in getting upset about stuff that's probably not gonna change."

"Easy for you to say," Genis glared at him, " _You_ get to do whatever you want."

"And yet," I said, trying to keep the peace, "he's here, with us. So let's keep it civil, okay?"

Genis grumbled; Zelos gave me a strange look.

"There they are," said Raine, raising a hand in acknowledgment. Sheena, Lloyd and Colette were hiking up the path, burdened by the morning's shopping. We stopped to redistribute supplies, and to get a handle on what exactly we were doing next.

"The people around here really don't like Presea, or that you guys came into town with her," Sheena said, handing me a bundle of tallow soap and fresh rags as Lloyd and Zelos argued over who ought to carry the fifty-something pounds of barley rice, "They're not usually this bad, but the woman at the butcher's charged me double what she should have. I tried to haggle, but..." Sheena flushed, and Raine nodded. Sheena wasn't cut out for that kind of confrontation.

"It's all right," Raine said. "With any luck we'll be able to resupply again on the western road, or in Sybak."

"Safer to do it on the road," Zelos suggested. "Towns out here are less likely to rat us out to the Church."

Genis groaned. "Are we ever _not_ gonna be wanted criminals?"

"Goodness, I hope not," I said.

* * *

Altessa's home was a four-hour hike down the mountainside and towards the coast. The path, if you could call it that, was uneven and overgrown, meandering and inconsistent. Much of it was over packed earth, but some was over cracked stone that crumbled underfoot. There was the occasional patch of rutted dirt to suggest a wheelbarrow or a cart had been pulled through, but no one had gone this way recently, and it was certainly not a regular route.

It was hot out, cloudless and uncomfortably sunny. The fir trees receded and gave way to tough, scrubby yellow grass; someone had bored away part of the mountainside to reveal a niche of golden sandstone. In that hollow was set a door and several deep, round windows. 

There was a small garden, and beside that a pyramid of earthenware jugs. Posts marked out a kind of courtyard, and between some hung lights, and between others, washing lines, laundry billowing gently in the warm breeze. Set further back was a well, and to the far right of the courtyard there was a huge stone oven, occupied for the moment by a dozen bundles of dry branches, protruding from the opening like a hundred oversized brown cigarettes. Yellow-green moss grew up the walls and towards the treeline, and strands of ivy sprouted shriveling seed-pods.

The swept stone had a nostalgic smell to it, although I couldn't be sure why, and I tried to remember Altessa from the game - he had been a bit of a stick in the mud, hadn't he?

"Huh," said Lloyd, slowing. "This is kind of like where my dad used to live."

Raine glanced at him. "Really? It doesn't resemble the cottage."

Lloyd shrugged. "He built the cottage after he took me in."

"I hope Altessa is as nice as Dirk," said Colette, around with great interest.

The front door was huge, wrought from a single stone slab and engraved with precise geometric ornamentation - simple, but very pretty. There was an iron doorknocker, and Lloyd took the initiative; the sound bounced off the rock, heavy and hollow, and we waited.

The door opened.

"WHO IS IT?" 

It was the blocky, inflectionless sound of a speech synthesizer; each word laid out as if it was being plucked from a shelf and slotted into place. There was a very slight lisp - disconcerting in what was obviously an artificial voice.

"Um," Lloyd looked back at me, eyes wide. Colette and Sheena did, too, bewildered. Lloyd turned back to the door. "Um. We've heard that there's a dwarf living here... uh..." He glanced back at me again, wrong-footed. "Is... there any chance we could see him?"

The girl in the door was both my doppelganger and a complete stranger.

She had the same face, the same eyes, the same build - but she was also a very young woman, at least five years my junior, and there was an uncanny perfection to her. Her skin was entirely smooth and even, without scars, blemishes or blotchiness, her posture upright, her eyes bright and clear. I had been perpetually tired, even at sixteen; this girl was fresh-faced and beautiful in a way I would never be. 

My body went very cold.

"YOU DESIRE A MEETING WITH MASTER ALTESSA. PLEASE COME INSIDE."

Colette and I looked vaguely alike - that wasn't so strange. We were both pale, fair-haired, with turned-up noses and full cheeks, but this was different. 

"Uh, okay," said Lloyd.

The girl disappeared. We unfroze; I staggered forward into the cool dimness of Altessa's home, gaze unfocused.

"So," said Zelos, breaking the silence, "you got a secret little sister, or something?"

I raised a hand to my throat. I remembered this girl from the game - an automaton, the thing that eventually became Martel the Summon Spirit. That couldn't be right.

"She really looked like you," said Sheena, "I thought - I dunno."

"But... she was human," Genis pointed out. "She had rounded ears."

"I mean," said Lloyd, searching for an explanation, "they do say everyone has a doppelganger somewhere. Like Colette and that fake Chosen!"

"That's not the same," Raine scolded, "And even so..."

I couldn't quite breathe.

"Uh, crap," muttered Zelos, leaning down to look at my face. "Are you okay?"

"Who are you people?"

We turned. Altessa had been summoned, and now he stood in the door of the cluttered workroom, eyes darting from one face to the next. 

He wasn't actually that short - maybe five feet - but he was broad and barrel-chested, his hands like baseball mitts and hanging nearly to his knees. He was elderly, by the look of his ash-grey beard and bald head, but he was deeply tan and thickly muscled, his forearm thicker than my thigh. His face looked as if it had been crushed backwards into his skull, and his eyes were almost entirely hidden beneath a heavy, hairy brow. His nose was bulbous and lopsided, and he wore a deep blue-green robe with golden cuffs.

"My name is Lloyd," Lloyd volunteered, "We've come in regards to Presea. We heard about you from Kate in Sybak."

"Lloyd, something's wrong," Raine said, "Edie?"

" _You_ ," cried Altessa. "I want it gone, I will have none of Rodyle's abominations here! _Leave!_ "

"What?" Lloyd looked back and forth between Altessa, who had turned away, and Raine, Zelos and I - I was breathing again, but I still felt much too cold. My fingers were nerveless and my hands were shaking.

"I don't want anything more to do with that girl, and I want that _thing_ gone! Get _out_ of here!"

"I can't believe you-" Lloyd began, but the girl was already shepherding us back out into the entryway, and Sheena was tugging Lloyd along, not looking for a fight. "What was that all about?" Lloyd demanded, rounding on the girl, furious and confused.

"I APOLOGIZE," she said, "THE MASTER DOES NOT WANT TO GET INVOLVED WITH PRESEA."

"Why?" asked Genis, in much the same state as Lloyd, "He doesn't care if she dies?"

"IT IS NOT THAT," she replied. "IT IS BECAUSE THE MASTER REGRETS WHAT HE HAS DONE." She glanced at me, and then away - a move that nearly looked involuntary.

"Then please, ask him to save Presea!" insisted Colette, "All she needs is for her Key Crest to be fixed!"

"I DO NOT KNOW IF THAT WOULD TRULY BE IN HER BEST INTEREST."

"Why?" asked Lloyd, bewildered. "How could anything be worse than living in that cruel condition and waiting to die?"

"IF YOU ARE THAT COMMITTED," the girl replied, "THEN YOU SHOULD SEARCH FOR INHIBITOR ORE."

Lloyd blinked. "Presea's Key Crest isn't made out of inhibitor ore?"

"CORRECT. HER CREST IS-"

There came a clattering smash from the next room, and a thump, like wood on stone.

" _Tabatha_ ," Altessa bellowed down the hall, "What are you doing? Get rid of them!"

Tabatha turned in the direction of Altessa's voice, and then back to Lloyd. "I APOLOGIZE," she repeated, "I MUST RETURN. PLEASE COME BACK AGAIN," she went on, "I WILL ATTEMPT TO PERSUADE HIM." And then she turned to me. "I AM SORRY FOR THE MASTER'S BEHAVIOR. I HOPE YOU WILL FORGIVE HIM."

"Forgive him for _what?_ " asked Lloyd, but Tabatha didn't speak again, and Sheena finally dragged Lloyd outside behind the others. I stumbled along beside Raine, the sun too hot on my bare skin. "Forgive him for _what?_ " Lloyd repeated, glaring back at the door. "What was all that about? Why did he call Edie-"

"I'm gonna throw up," I announced, and bent over the nearest length of fence to do so. Zelos recoiled.

"Did you know him?" asked Genis. "Why was he so-"

"Just - I need a minute," I said, leaning over the beam a moment longer before bursting into motion - vaulting over the fence - and the sick - and into the grass, willing my feet to carry me away from here and towards somewhere that made sense. I needed to be alone - or perhaps I needed not to have seen Tabatha. My mouth tasted of bile. _Abomination?_ I could hear someone calling out after me, but I couldn't bear to face them right now, not when I couldn't even think.

Rodyle had been that skeezy half-elf - the one who kidnapped Colette. What did he have to do with anything? What did he have to do with _me?_

 _You had to come from somewhere_ , said a treacherous little voice in the back of my head. _You saw that plaster cast. And you don't remember everything._

Raine had asked how I dealt with it - and I dealt with it by _not thinking about it._ I couldn't - there was no way to make it make sense, to sand the edges off and fit it inside the soft mess of my mind. It was all wrong, and strange.

This was my body. I was _me_ . I remembered being me. I remembered my family - I remembered my friends, my mom, my dad, my sisters - but that wasn't right, either, because I had been trying not to realize it for months now, but I couldn't _not_ think about it a moment longer, and it was just too awful: I couldn't remember their names.

Or, maybe, that there were no names to remember in the first place.

I fell into a crouch, head between my knees and arms canopied above me. I took slow, deliberate breaths, fingernails sharp against the nape of my neck. I remembered my mom's laugh. I remember my dad's model trains. I remembered the house on the lake and I remembered fireflies swimming in the dark. 

And I thought, _None of this is real. So does it matter if that's real?_

I wasn't sure.

_It happened. You remember it._

But had it?

_'Real' is a lie told to you by your body. You remember. That's real._

Because - it was, wasn't it? It didn't matter if it was fuzzy, or fake, or if I was in an insane asylum somewhere, because I was right here, crouching in the long grass, the sun burning the back of my neck and my boots squeaking in the dirt. I had told Raine - I had _told her,_ how it didn't matter, because there was nothing to be gained from wondering - that didn't mean it only applied in one direction. I was still _me_. 

I was still me.

I dug my fingers into the earth, dry soil giving way to cold loam. I was here.

 _Despite everything_ , I thought, _It's still you._

I rolled backwards, landing on my pack and flopping over sideways. I could smell the rubbery sour smell of fermenting soil, and the sweetness of summer lilac, and taste acid bile. I was here. I pushed myself up - I had made myself invisible, but I could feel the heat and wind and the scrape of air past my teeth, and I felt real again. I stood - I had gone a long way, Altessa's house obscured by a cluster of pale aspens.

"Edie?"

"Hi there," I said, scaring the daylights out of everyone except Colette, and feeling only a little sorry. They hadn't strayed far from the path, and it was easy to find them. It might have been more polite to make myself visible _before_ I joined them, but I could be forgiven bad manners on a day like today. 

"Edie!" Raine looked half-panicked, half-annoyed.

"Sorry about that," I went on, brushing dirt from my cuffs, "I just needed some time alone, sorry for worrying you." 

"Are you okay?" asked Sheena, face twisted up in concern and confusion. "You just-"

"Like I said," I waved a hand, expansive, "Just needed a minute. They say you shouldn't have coffee on an empty stomach," I added, propping my fists on my hips. "So that's a lesson for all of us. _Anyway_ , where were we? Inhibitor ore? What's that?"

"Edie-" began Lloyd, but Zelos interrupted him, settling an arm around my shoulder and waving a dismissive hand. 

"Come on, Lloyd, like you haven't had stomach trouble? I'm sure it's fine."

"Exercise is always a good way to get the body back on track," I continued, a mite desperately. "Anyway, ore."

"Ore," Zelos echoed.

"Let it be, Lloyd," Raine said, resting a hand on his arm. "It's not our business."

"But-"

"Let it go," Raine repeated.

The silence stretched on, long and horribly awkward.

"So," Sheena said, probably because she'd also had a little breakdown in the past twenty-four hours, "uh, inhibitor ore?"

* * *

Raine waited until we made camp to corner me, which at least gave it the dignity of privacy.

"What was that?"

I sighed, abandoning the whetstone and leaning forward, my elbows propped on my knees. "It was a very brief and very intense existential crisis. I _said_ sorry."

"I'm not asking because I'm upset with you," Raine said, although the tone was chastising. "I'm asking because I'm concerned. What was that girl?"

"I think she's, like, a robot," I groaned. "I don't know."

"And do you have any idea why you look like her? Or why she looks like you, I suppose."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I didn't want to say it out loud.

"I think she was supposed to be a vessel for Martel. She's modeled after her."

Raine stilled.

"After Martel?"

I nodded.

"...You and Colette do look somewhat alike," she said. "Sheena pointed it out before, and I confess I didn't see it, but..."

"Altessa said 'abomination'," I recalled. "I wonder if... If I..." I swallowed. "If _this body_ was made for Martel, too. But - it doesn't make sense. I still look like myself. I even - I even still have this scar on my chin," I pointed. "I crashed right into a curb, it was really embarrassing. And - Raine. At Sybak, there was a bin with a plaster death mask in it of my face."

" _What?_ Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it's insane!" I burst out, "Of course it's insane," I whispered, because that had been very loud. "Look, it's... I took art class in school, right? They make you draw self-portraits and stuff, and I _know_ this is my face. Cameras are super common where I come from. I took so many selfies - you know what, I don't want to explain it, but I _know_ that's _my_ face. _My_ face."

Raine was quiet for a while.

"You know, the memory is quite malleable. It might be-"

"That my memories are changing to suit reality?" I guessed. "It makes the most sense. I don't know how a body would deal with... with any of this. How the brain would deal with it. I wish I was a neurologist or something. And maybe - maybe everything I remember is just a dream, or something, and I was born in a test tube, but..."

"But?"

"But _fuck_ it, Raine. _I_ know that it was real, even if it was just real to me." I was crying, I realized - Raine took my hand, and squeezed it. "Even if it's just my imagination, it _was real_."

"Yes, I think it was," Raine said, surprising me. "Consider everything you know about this world. Precognition isn't entirely an impossibility, but why such limited information? And those stories you tell Colette, and all your songs. It's possible you invented them out of whole cloth, but I'm not sure you did."

I stared at her. "Y-yeah."

"I'm not saying it makes sense," she allowed, "but think of what we've witnessed. Is it so absurd that this reality might coexist alongside another? You said it yourself," she continued, "There is infinite possibility, and infinite time and space for possibility to become real."

I wiped at my face.

"That's pretty irrational, coming from you," I said, thickly. "I mean. How stupid is this?"

Raine was serious. "You may have expected Cruxis," she said, "but this is my world, Edie. How do you think I felt, that day in the Tower? To know without a doubt that our world is built on a lie? It's very self-centered of you to imagine that I am not capable of imagining what's happened to you." She squeezed my hand again. "I'm not saying I understand, entirely, but I am certainly capable of empathizing."

I dropped my head on her shoulder, sighing.

"Why are you always right?"

"I'm not sure," Raine said, wry. "Occupational hazard, I suppose."

"I - thank you," I said. "I didn't realize I needed someone else to say it."

"Do you know," Raine said, in an absentminded kind of way, "I think you're the first person in a long time I've considered a friend rather than a responsibility."

I glanced over. "Yeah?"

"Yes."

"Same, honestly," I admitted. "Sorry. I wish..." I waved a hand lamely. "I wish I made more sense."

"Not at all," Raine sniffed, "I think I appreciate the thought experiment."

I laughed. "You would, wouldn't you?"

"Somehow I think you'd feel the same, in my position."

I beamed. "You're much smarter than I am. You'd have figured yourself out by now."

"I don't think intelligence comes into it."

"You're supposed to say, 'actually, Edie, you're just as smart as I am.'"

"I don't make a habit of lying."

"Why, you little scamp!"

"Don't make me-"

"Hey, keep it down over there," called Zelos, faux-scolding. "If you're gonna fight, at least put on something revealing first - _gaah!_ "

Raine had really, _really_ good aim, and her boot wasn't even particularly aerodynamic.

* * *

The only inhibitor ore any of us had heard of was in Toize Valley - the same place they mined Exspheres. That introduced a familiar problem: we didn't have a way to get there.

"It really does come back to mobility," Raine sighed. "We'll have to hope we can find passage out of Sybak."

Zelos was right; news of our supposed treason hadn't reached the area yet, and we were able to book passage out of one of the portside villages - it was hardly more than a crossroads, but they had a dock and a shabby little inn, and that was enough. The riverboat arrived a full two days later, so that there was plenty of time for us to sweat it out. There wasn't any way of getting news down here, and nothing we could do but wait.

At least we had the opportunity to throw Sheena a belated birthday party.

"You guys didn't have to," Sheena demurred, embarrassed. We crowded into one inn room, because the only other place with a table was the downstairs bar, which was permanently occupied by a very nasty old drunk and his unfriendly dog. We could have camped out, but Zelos refused to rough it when there were beds available, and it wasn't so bad. The worst accommodations here were equal to your average Sylvarant bed-and-breakfast, so I didn't mind.

"Of course we did," said Raine. "Happy birthday."

"Sorry I didn't wrap it," Lloyd said, rubbing anxiously at the back of his neck. "I kind of forgot."

Lloyd had made her a lovely hairpin out of scrap stone from Sybak - it looked a little like jade, or some other opaque gemstone, and it was very pretty. 

Sheena unfolded my gift from a bit of old handkerchief. "Oh!" She grinned up at me, "I saw these in Asgard! Thank you, Edie!"

"It matches your robe," Colette admired, "That's so cute! I've always wanted a coin purse."

"I'll keep it in mind for your birthday," I smiled - already thinking that it would have to be sky-blue. Or dog-patterned.

Genis' was a charm - in line with what we'd all given him for his birthday - but with a little something extra. 

The heart of it was a tiny wooden sphere, dark and polished, cocooned inside a net of red string and clay beads. "Twist the bead on the end," he said, looking smug. Sheena did - and gasped in amazement as the entire thing lit up soft and golden. It wasn't _yellow_ light, either, but the perfect, warmest gold - the sun at magic hour. It shed light like a lantern, dense and smooth and reassuring, and Sheena turned it over in her hands, casting long shadows on the walls. And then she twisted the bead, and it went dark. 

"Wow, Genis," Sheena said, "How'd you even do this?"

Genis had the grace to look embarrassed, but he was still obviously pleased with himself. "I've been messing around with enchantments for a while. Edie gave me the idea, actually." 

I looked at him with wide eyes. "You said you didn't know about enchanting!"

"I've been studying," he said, turning pink, "I mean, there's plenty to read about it. You don't have to be so surprised."

That reminded me. "Lloyd, did you ever finish that thing I asked for?" I waggled my eyebrows.

Lloyd squirmed. "Uhhh."

"You forgot," I guessed. "Well, you should work on it. I paid you and everything!"

"You paid Lloyd to make something?" asked Genis, "I hope you got a receipt."

"Shut up!"

"Anyway," I said, "I'm glad we were able to celebrate at least a little."

"Hey, don't you have a present for Sheena?" Genis wheedled at Zelos.

" _Hey_ , I'm paying for these rooms, aren't I?" Zelos replied, arms folded. "Anyway, how am I supposed to know Sheena's birthday?"

"I don't want a present from you anyway," Sheena replied, "it'd probably be something gross."

"Aren't you guys friends?" asked Lloyd. 

Sheena snorted.

"That hurts," Zelos whined, "we've known each other since we were kids!"

"That doesn't make us _friends_."

"Zelos was really worried about you, though," Genis blurted. "When he thought-"

"Oy, shut up, brat-"

"Well, you were!-"

"GUYS," I said, hands up in a gesture of peace, "You're ruining the birthday vibes. We can all pretend not to care about each other later." The boys settled a little. Sheena was blushing. " _Anyway_ , if you think about it, we've all been together for half a year now! Well, not including Zelos, but isn't that wild? Almost seven months!"

"Has it really been that long?" asked Raine, sounding tired. "I suppose soon enough it'll be Colette's birthday."

Lloyd brightened. "Oh yeah!" He grinned at Colette. "You'll be seventeen!"

"We should do something special," Genis agreed. "Not that your birthday isn't special," he hurried to say to Sheena, "It's just..."

Sheena shook her head. "No, I get it. It's a pretty big deal." She grinned. "We'll have a real party. Surely _you_ can help out with that, at least," she prodded Zelos.

"Sure, sure," Zelos waved his hands, "It's not like I have other stuff going on, y'know."

"I'm sorry, Zelos," Colette worried at a lock of hair, "you got dragged into all of this, and now-"

"I was joking," Zelos rushed to assure her, "Just joking. Like I said, we Chosen have to stick together, right?" He folded his arms. "I throw awesome parties, don't you worry. You guys never got to see my mansion, did you?"

"You have a mansion?" marveled Lloyd.

"Of course he does," Sheena rolled her eyes.

"That'll be a lot of fun!" Colette clapped her hands. "I've never had a birthday party before!"

"... _Anyway_ ," I said, steamrollering over the inherent tragedy of that statement, "isn't Lloyd's birthday in August or something? That's gotta be coming up."

"August 2nd," said Genis, grinning. "Last year Noishe knocked over his cake and got it all over the house, and Dirk made Lloyd mop up," he remembered fondly.

"It wasn't even my fault," Lloyd sulked.

"That's like a week away," I complained, "I don't have anything ready."

"Lloyd doesn't need gifts," sighed Raine, "I'm sure it's fine."

"Hey, shouldn't I decide that?" whined Lloyd.

"I'll think of something," I said, "We'll be in Sybak before then, right?"

"Provided we don't get jumped by the Papal Knights, yeah," Zelos agreed. "I have some friends in Sybak, so once we're in it shouldn't be a problem. Still, though, don't make a scene like last time, huh, Miss Mysterious?"

I swatted at his arm. " _I_ made a scene?"

He grinned. 

"Speaking of nicknames," Zelos said, "I've got 'em for you and Miss Angel and Little One and these two," he jerked a finger at the boys. "And obviously Sheena is a Shrieking Violent Banshee - _ow_ \- but what about Raine? I was thinking," he spread his fingers as if picturing some far-off wonder, " _Gorgeous Ultra Cool Beauty_. How's that sound?"

I gave two thumbs up - Raine kicked me.

"I don't want to be called something like that!"

"Hm. How about _Her Highness?_ " Zelos suggested.

"Her Majesty," I added.

"Edie, stop encouraging him."

"I guess 'The Professor' is pretty good," Zelos allowed. "The bewitching female teacher."

"Edie."

"All I did was nod," I complained, rubbing my shin. 

* * *

The journey by boat took about three days. We were the only passengers aside from some middle-aged tourist and his dog, and the riverboat was a lot larger than Max's little ship, so it was miles more comfortable than the trip to Palmacosta. Raine spent the entire journey lying down in the cabin with a damp cloth over her eyes, but that couldn't be helped. 

Colette, of course, was delighted about the dog, and when Colette was happy, everyone was happy. Or at least moderately content.

The riverboat went south of Ozette and then hooked north around Gaoracchia, only dipping south again to rattle into harbor in the fens around Sybak. The harbor was busy and huge - massive freighters chugging along beside fishing vessels, tugboats, merchant ships and luxurious ocean-liners. We disembarked along with the older man and his dog, and then we were in Sybak again, yet to be accosted by Papal Knights.

"Well, that went better than expected," Zelos said, but he sounded suspicious. "Don't you have any clothes that don't scream 'backwoods madman'?" 

"My clothes are fine," Lloyd argued. "You stand out more, anyway."

That was true. People _recognized_ Zelos.

"It's okay," Zelos said, gazing coldly out over the crowd. "I don't think they'd have expected us to come back here, and the University knows what side their bread's buttered on. They won't arrest me here again, at least not in public. People like me too much," he turned a bright smile on Lloyd. "Anyway, I'm starving. Let's worry about all that boring stuff later."

"I'd rather be boring than in jail," complained Genis.

* * *

We ran into a small snag.

The University had decided Zelos was more trouble than he was worth, and no amount of wheedling, begging, bribery or outright threats of violence would get us past the front gates. That ended up okay, because the University had more than one gate, and plenty of people who _were_ more receptive to our methods than the faculty. And that was how Raine, Sheena and I ended up 'in disguise' as three lovely young co-eds of Zelos' acquaintance. 

"The uniforms fit, at least," Raine sighed, "although I wish they wouldn't shorten their skirts. It's hardly conducive to a learning environment."

"Don't be a spoil-sport, Professor," Zelos grinned, "Don't you know university life is all about romance?"

Zelos' entire 'disguise' consisted of a pair of narrow spectacles.

The library was crowded, but no one was paying us any attention. It wasn't even that they were careful _not_ to pay us attention - everyone seemed run off their feet with work or study, and half the students barely looked awake. "Graduate program applications," Zelos explained, when Raine asked. "I know, right? Who'd want to subject themselves to an extra six years of this place? But people sure seem eager."

"I wanted to go to grad school," I said absently, "Didn't work out, though."

"Really? I had you down as a pretty-but-brainless type," Zelos teased.

"Focus," Raine scolded, "we're not here for fun."

We were looking for - well, a lot of things.

We didn't have a lot of time in Sybak. We were probably pushing our luck by returning at all, but Raine would have gnawed her own leg off before she passed up this opportunity. There was just so much we didn't know, and so many questions we didn't have answers for. The library was three stories, not counting the basement and the periodicals section, and we were only four people. There was work to do.

Sheena, Zelos and I did the legwork, pulling down every book we could find on Exspheres, Key Crests, Cruxis, Martel - really anything even vaguely related to our situation that had been bound and printed. The trouble was that half our fields of inquiry basically fell under philosophy and metaphysics, rather than anything actually useful. It helped that I had a rough idea of what _I_ was looking for - but it was really, really rough.

"Do you know what it's called?" Raine asked, when Sheena and Zelos were elsewhere. "That would certainly help."

I shrugged. "Chronic-something-something Inofficium? I dunno, I'm sorry. But I know you have to get a mana herb or something-"

"Mana leaf herb?" Raine looked up in interest. "That's supposed to be extinct."

"Well, it isn't," I said, "and -" I paused. "A mana fragment, I think. We have to go to Derris-Kharlan for that."

"Derris-Kharlan."

"It's like... a planet or something? Wa... Waluigi?"

" _Welgaia?_ "

"Sure."

"The Holy City," Raine sighed. "You do realize you're talking about Heaven."

"Yeah, well," I said, defensive, "the Tower is like a space elevator or something. And it's not like we can go right now, anyway."

Raine passed a hand over her face. "Was there anything else?"

I thought hard. "Uh. I know there's definitely three ingredients plus your Unicorn power, but I don't remember what the last one is. Sorry."

Raine shook her head. "It's something to go on. And Origin?"

"He's in elf-town, or whatever," I scowled, "But we can't deal with him until we have all the other pacts."

"Yuan said Kratos maintains the seal."

"Yeah. Lloyd will... have to fight him, I think."

"Lloyd will?"

I paused. Lloyd had to, in order to inherit the right of the pact, and to use the Eternal Sword. Except... I'd suspected Kratos was training me up just for that purpose. But that wasn't right - Lloyd had split the power of the Eternal Sword into the fire-and-ice things, or something, and he'd only succeeded because of his Exsphere, right? Because I _remembered_ the part of the ending where he sprouted wings, and _I_ couldn't do that.

"Probably," I said, frowning. "I dunno. But it's for later down the line. We have enough to deal with as it is."

Raine nodded soberly. "I suppose there's no sense in getting ahead of ourselves. Still, Welgaia... And right now we're struggling to find a boat that will take us to Volt."

"Yeah," I agreed, weakly. "Look, when we're down here in the library... All that stuff seems kind of impossible, doesn't it? But we _fought_ an _angel_." I sighed. "Sometimes - I dunno, it seems like that happened to someone else."

"I know the feeling," Raine agreed. "Remember when Kratos threw Lloyd into the pond? I thought you were going to die laughing."

"I remember." I sunk down beside her. "Ugh. I can't believe... It's almost been a year. Isn't that insane?"

"It's... bizarre," conceded Raine. Then she shook her head. "But reminiscing isn't going to help us right now. All of that might be in the future," she allowed, "but people are still suffering in Sylvarant. Presea is still in Ozette. Half-elves..." she trailed off, and shook her head again. "I need to get back to work. There's a paper mentioned here," she pivoted, turning a page toward me, "Can you see if this is in the card index? It'd be useful to cross-reference."

I saluted. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"You're lucky these aren't my pens, or I'd have hit you," she said. "Get going."

* * *

"You're back!" cheered Genis. "I wish we could have come along."

"They went to a _library_ ," Lloyd said, "that's like, punishment."

We were holed up for the evening in a vacant apartment, left empty for the summer by some distant acquaintance of Zelos', and about a hundred times too spacious for one student to take up all by himself. Colette had swept off the furniture, and the boys had pushed two tables together in the kitchen to make a space big enough for all of us. Tomorrow, we'd be getting on some old fishing boat and making for the Isle of Lightning - but tonight, we deserved a party.

"How was it?" Genis asked.

"I wish we'd have had more time," Raine sighed. "I think after the Temple of Lightning, we should head for Toize Valley. Zelos was right about that, at least. Unfortunately, the mine's not open, and I'm not even sure who we could contact to enter legally. It was shut down some time ago, and the company that owns it is no longer operating in the Valley."

"Well," Zelos said, "Shut down is basically abandoned. Which _basically_ means it's free reign, right?"

"You want to break in?" asked Sheena, scandalized. She was the one lugging around the big cardboard box, and her temper was running thin.

"We're _already_ wanted criminals," he reminded her. "Breaking and entering doesn't look that bad next to treason!"

"Anyway, it's for Presea," Colette said soothingly, "so it's all right, right?"

"Right," Sheena allowed.

"At any rate," Raine interrupted, "there may be a dual purpose." She swung her bag around sideways, and produced a sheaf of papers with suspiciously regular print. I looked on in amazement. "Lloyd, would you be able to reproduce this design, if given the right materials? I'm not an expert, but it looks simpler than what you've done with mine and Colette's key crests."

"Did you _tear that out of a book_?" I asked, voice going embarrassingly squeaky.

"We're already wanted criminals," Raine echoed, "And I didn't _tear_ them. I had my sewing scissors."

"Uh, yeah," Lloyd said, still focused on the diagrams, "this is made with inhibitor ore? What's it do?"

Raine smiled. "It's a kind of shielding charm. If you can make one each for Zelos and Colette, then Cruxis may not be able to track their signatures. It's not foolproof," she admitted, "but the theory is sound, and if Cruxis' technology even slightly resembles the prototypes at Sybak-"

"This is amazing, Professor!" said Colette, starry-eyed. 

" _I have cake_ ," Sheena blurted, and then went red. "Well, it's heavy!" She hefted the box up onto the table. "I know that's all important, but we promised we were going to actually celebrate! And the cake's kind of mine too, you know."

Raine smiled. "You're right, I'm sorry. Genis, can you find a candle? We should do this properly."

"Hey, no," Lloyd protested, "no singing."

"There's a birthday song?" I perked up. No one had mentioned _that_ before. 

"It's traditional," Colette told me, beaming, "at least, Dirk says it is! He taught us. But you have to have a cake with candles, and Raine wouldn't let us sing for hers."

"Just shut up and enjoy it," Zelos told Lloyd, "I didn't spend money on a present just for you to be a stick in the mud."

"You _didn't_ spend money on a present," Sheena said.

"I did," Zelos pouted, hefting his bag on one shoulder to dig out something I'd mistaken for a book. It was a large, thin package, wrapped in maroon paper. There was even a little golden ribbon stuck on the front. "See? Ribbon and everything!"

"When did you have time to do that?" Sheena demanded. "We were working all day!"

"I happen to know how to _delegate_ ," Zelos said. " _And_ I have something for you, Miss Bossy." He handed her a smaller box, this one wrapped in deep blue. 

"Wh-why?"

"I missed your birthday," Zelos shrugged. "Nothing weird about that."

"I picked something up as well," said Raine, amused. "Sit down, Lloyd, you may as well get it over with."

"But I'm _eighteen_ -"

"All the more reason to celebrate."

Sheena dimmed the lights. Lloyd sat at the head of the assembly of tables, red in the face and low in his chair while Colette and Genis stood to either side, grinning widely. Raine slid the cake, platter and all, into place before Lloyd, and Genis lit the lone candle, which was already half-used-up. It burned bright in the dark of the apartment, and Genis and Colette took big, theatrical breaths.

" _Oh my goodness, oh my gosh, what is that I hear?_

_I turn around and here we are! It's been another year!_

_Did you have fun, and were you good? Are you taller, wiser?_

_Well, hip, hurray! Your friends are here to cheer you and advise you:_

_The strongest thing of all is love! The nearest next is steel;_

_So be smart, be bold, be just and good, keep on an even keel!_

_So be grateful for these friends of yours, who sing for you today,_

_Togetherness is best of all, and that's the Dwarvish way!_ "

Lloyd, blushing terribly, blew out the candles. Then Genis smashed his face into the cake.

It was a good party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u for everyone who waited ;w; please don't ever worry about me abandoning this fic, its like my magnus opus or whatever. and special thank you to Punpun and TurnArklight, your comments fill me with joy and purpose


	18. Temple of Lightning

"Boats," sighed Raine. 

"You've been very tolerant," I said, patting her on the shoulder. "Just imagine - soon it'll be Rheairds and gravy."

"Gravy?"

" _Gravy_."

"I'm worried about Sheena," she admitted in an undertone.

It was early yet - the sky was grey and cold, and the sea air was fresh and invigorating. Steely water battered the edge of the concrete wharf, studded with barnacles, and seabirds screamed over the whirring engines. Colette and Genis sat together some distance away, feet dangling over the edge, and Sheena was sprawled out beside them, head pillowed on her bag. The harbor was busy, even now, and I was tired.

"Yeah," I agreed, "I don't think she slept last night."

"At least we know in advance about the language barrier," Raine sighed, "but... Undine was difficult as it was, and water, though I loathe to admit it, is less immediately fatal than lightning. You nearly cracked your skull open," she recalled, "and Lloyd had a few very nasty wounds. I wish we had more time to prepare, but it was a question of time. I wonder if I made the right choice."

"You've done what you can do," I said, "No use borrowing trouble."

A horn bleated, long and tinny.

"Hey, guys!"

Lloyd was at the helm; Zelos was hanging onto a rail by the cabin, waving a formless yellow hat. The boat was grimy and careworn; the motor rumbled and spluttered at the rear, the few seats were scuffed and torn, the deck was strewn with fishing miscellany, and the cabin was just large enough to fit the seven of us, if we packed in like sardines. It had been christened _Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow._ I had never seen Lloyd look so happy in all the time I'd known him.

"I'm steering a ship!" he informed us, as Zelos tied off the boat and hopped onto the pier. "A real ship!"

"It's... seaworthy?" asked Raine, looking green.

"That's what the fella said," Zelos grinned. "Don't worry, I've been on boats."

"What a relief."

"We have Undine," I said soothingly, "She won't let us capsize."

"Whuhh?" Sheena stirred at the mention of Undine, blinking in the hazy light. "Oh. Huh."

"It'll be okay," Genis assured his sister. "If we get stranded, I know who we can eat first!"

"Hey," said Zelos, on principle. 

"Lloyd knows how to fish," volunteered Colette, "Don't you, Lloyd?"

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah! We've got poles and nets and everything!" He grinned. "So we can leave eating Zelos as a last resort."

" _Hey_."

"Can we not joke about eating people?" Sheena begged, shouldering her pack and peering at the boat. "Ugh." 

There was a group effort to help Raine board, although Raine participated very little beyond not attacking us. Once she was safely ensconced beneath a blanket in the cabin, there was a last check. Everyone was present and correct, if you counted 'groaning under the bedroll' for Raine, we had supplies - not counting the fishing gear, compass and nautical maps - and, remarkably, no one had left anything in the apartment, so there was nothing left to do but set sail. Or whatever you called it, sans sails.

"Anyway," I said, as Zelos unmoored us, "cannibalism is a pretty bad survival strategy. If you're deprived enough to be actually starving, your body doesn't have the equipment to process the vital nutrients, especially if the other person is starving, too. Stupid, really, when you get right down to it."

From the cabin, Raine groaned.

* * *

"Hello, sailor," I greeted, settling beside Zelos. It wasn't like it was a big ship, or that there were many seats. Genis was sleeping on the other two, and I was sick of sitting on the ground. "What's new with you?"

Zelos had his hair tied back in deference to the wind; he was sunburnt, even with the overcast weather, and didn't look pleased about it. We would all be worse for wear by the time we reached the island, but fair-skinned, red-haired Zelos was having the worst of it. Magical healing was all well and good, but Zelos' skills didn't tend towards the cosmetic, and Raine refused to 'waste her energy' on him, although she'd forked over some gels for the pain. Sunburns _hurt_.

"Oh, you know," Zelos said, waving his book at the world in general. "Ocean. Wind. Horrible searing pain. I thought I saw a whale earlier, but it turned out to be a rock. How about you?"

I shrugged. "The fishing's good. I've never gone fishing with a net before, so that's fun. Sheena's teaching me to play a Mizuho card game with pictures. Uhh, what else. Oh! Raine says we're only another day and a half out, if the weather holds, so that's good news."

"Oh, hurray," Zelos grumbled. "And when did she say this?"

"In the ten-minute break she took from groaning and throwing up," I said. "Don't be too hard on her, she really, really hates being on boats."

"It's fine," Zelos shrugged, and winced. "I'm kind of turning around on them, to be honest. Not so much fun when you don't have a plush cabin and a four-course breakfast."

I squinted at him. "There's not _really_ something like a four-course breakfast, is there?"

"Of course there is," Zelos said. "Next time we're in Meltokio, I'll take you to brunch at the _Swan's Little Parade_ in the Castle District. They do a six-course meal. _With_ drinks. Swear on my life."

"Okay, but brunch doesn't count," I argued, "Brunch is just bourgeoise luncheon."

"Okay, fine, then no one does a four-course breakfast," Zelos relented. "They keep it to three, max."

"Are you counting coffee as a course?" I asked shrewdly.

"Of course not," he replied, all faux-offense, "I'm not a _savage_."

"I wish we weren't rushing around all the time," I admitted, "I've been all these places and barely seen 'em. Except for Asgard," I allowed. "Last time we went it was May Day, and Kratos-" I cut myself off. "Anyway."

"...Hey," said Zelos, half-turning, "Why is everyone still so..." He waggled a hand. "...About that guy? He sounds pretty crummy to begin with. And I heard what he did to _you_ ," he pointed at a spot over my heart. "Why do you all still talk about him like..."

I shrugged. "I mean..." I began. "You have to understand that we were all basically together twenty-four-seven. Kratos... He was a dick, but he was still a solid dude. Guy. Whatever. It's hard to be with someone that long and trust them with your life and not... _care_ about them."

"Seemed pretty easy for him," Zelos said, mulish.

"I'm not sure that's true," I replied. "He definitely could have killed us, but he just... didn't."

"So he's a good guy for only possibly fatally maiming you?" Zelos asked, scowling.

I shrugged again. "Part of me still hopes he's on our side. I can't help it."

Zelos sighed. "Well, whatever. If I ever meet this guy, it's not gonna be pretty."

I smiled. "Didn't know you were so worried about our motley crew."

Zelos shot me a look. "I'm still here, aren't I?" He shook his head, leaning back against the bench. "Guys like that just piss me off. Anyway, pretty easy to see how bad he messed up those kids," he jerked his chin towards Colette and Genis. "That's low, and _I'm_ saying that."

I tweaked his ear. "Stop putting yourself down. You said it yourself - you're still here. Maybe it hasn't been very long, but you're still part of the team. I know I wouldn't have gotten through the Forest left alone with Lloyd and Presea, that's for sure. You think we'd have made it this far without you?" I tapped a foot on the deck. "I mean, who the hell even knows how to rent a boat?"

Zelos went funny for a moment.

"It really is flattering," he said, clasping a hand over his heart, "but I'm not sure if I feel the same."

I rolled my eyes. "You're such a dweeb."

"Ex _cuse_ me?"

"Seriously, it's like a non-stop pity party with you guys. What you _gotta_ do," I went on, "Is have a massive, overinflated and unshakable ego, like me and Lloyd. Fix you right up."

Zelos laughed.

"Is being stupid a requirement?"

"Hey," I said, grinning, "It's not required, but boy does it help. Now. Is this a new book?"

"'Borrowed' it from the library, yeah," Zelos allowed, "But I think it might go over your head. There aren't any pictures, even."

"You'll just have to read aloud, then," I said, slumping back with my arms folded, my eyes closed against the sun. "Paint me a word picture."

"I'm the Chosen, y'know."

"Come on, man, I'm dying here."

Zelos snorted, and started to read.

* * *

"O Captain, My Captain!"

Lloyd grinned. "Hey! Isn't this great?"

I sunk down beside the helm, wind just skimming the top of my head.

"It's swell," I joked. "You know, like the ocean swells. Or wind swells."

"Oh. Sure!"

"You look like you're having fun."

Lloyd turned back to watch the sea speed by. "Yeah. I mean, I just feel like I could go anywhere. I want a boat like this someday. Well," he conceded, "maybe the kind that has a little house in it, y'know? With a bed and stuff."

I nodded. "That'd be pretty fun."

Lloyd smiled. "You wanna give steering a go?"

"Uh, I'm good, thanks."

The world rushed by; beneath us, the sea stirred, cold and wild. The warmth of the sun never seemed to warm the spray or the fine mist that hung in the air like low clouds. I closed my eyes, salt stinging my face, and drifted to the sound of the ocean splitting before us and the rumble of the engine underfoot. Somewhere far away, a pair of seagulls were having a conversation. I lolled sideways - my head struck the side of the boat and I blinked up at Lloyd.

"You okay?" he asked, caught between laughter and concern.

"I'm good," I agreed. "Boats, man. They're the best."

"Aren't they?" Lloyd beamed. 

"Boats," I mumbled, already feeling sleepy again.

"Oh! Before I forget," he took one hand off the wheel to fish around in his pocket. "I finished this last night while we were moored," he said, passing it over to me. "Genis helped me test it. Does it... look okay?" He gave me an anxious glance. I shook my head, beaming up at him.

"It's _perfect_ ," I said, tucking it in my pocket. 

* * *

"What are you two up to?"

Genis slapped the book shut, he and Colette a picture of frantic guilt.

"Nothing!" said Genis.

"Studying!" insisted Colette, at the same time.

"Studying nothing," Genis resolved, flushing.

"Okayyyy," I said, squinting at one of them, and then the other. "Nothing is a big concept."

"It's - it isn't anything bad!" Colette said, flapping her hands. "We were just-" Genis nudged her.

"We were thinking of things to name the boat," Genis decided, deftly returning the little book to his rucksack and waving his hands. "Boats are supposed to have names, right?"

"Isn't it _Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow_?" I asked, feeling bad for them but unable to resist.

"Y-yes," Colette agreed hurriedly, picking up the thread, "but Professor Raine doesn't like alcohol-" I thought, amused, about Raine, tipsy, on the night of her birthday - "so we thought it should have a different name. And it's not a very nice name, anyway."

"Ah," I agreed, "so, what are the candidates?"

Colette looked urgently at Genis, who floundered for a moment.

"Uh, well, you're supposed to name boats after girls, right? So maybe the - the _Reliable Raine_?" he suggested.

"Hmmm," I stroked my chin. "I dunno if Raine would like having a boat named after her. Seems a little mean."

"Th-then maybe," Colette fluttered, " _Seaworthy Sheena?_ "

"I like it," I agreed, "Always love a good alliteration."

"Or even," said Genis, getting caught up in his own cleverness, "the _Erstwhile Edie_!"

"That's a good one, too!" I sighed. "Well, naming a boat is a big deal," I said, pushing myself up out of a crouch and grinning down at them, "So you guys had probably best workshop things a little more, until you're sure." I reached down and mussed Genis' hair. "You kids have fun."

I was polite enough to wait until I was out of the cabin to start laughing.

* * *

"So," I said, sliding down to sit on the deck beside Sheena and Corrine, "How's it going?"

"I'm nervous," Sheena blurted, and then backtracked. "I mean. If we make land tonight... we'll get to the Temple tomorrow. I'm just... I don't know if I can do it."

"It doesn't matter if you don't," I shrugged, leaning my shoulder against hers. "We're not gonna let you fail. We're gonna _be_ there. Even if you faint or throw up or pee your-" she socked me in the shoulder, and I grinned sideways at her. "It's gonna be okay, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. We're the dream team, baby."

"Ugh," she said, but she was smiling. "You're terrible."

"I know," I agreed, beaming. "Speaking of being super great, I have a gift for Corrine. I know it's not your birthday," I allowed, "But I hope you like it."

"A gift for me?" he asked, perking up on Sheena's lap. "What is it?"

I produced the amethyst charm Lloyd had carved for me. It was a pretty big bead - maybe as wide around as a quarter - but it was a patchwork of runes and arcane geometric patterns I couldn't hope to understand. It had a dim internal glow - a soft, pale lavender, barely there except in the right light - and it was warm to the touch, even after a morning in my bag. Corrine crept towards it, black eyes shining purple.

"It's a charm of lightning resistance," I said, feeling that the phrase lacked style. "Kvar had these two huge amethysts powering his sprite things way back at the Asgard Ranch," I explained. "After I found out about enchanting, I commissioned Lloyd to make this outta one of them. It's not much," I hedged, beginning to feel embarrassed at the lack of a response, "but I thought it'd give you peace of mind if Corrine - urk!"

Sheena squeezed tighter, if that were possible, and I gave her a tentative pat on the back. Corrine, trapped between us, whined in protest.

"Sorry," Sheena said, letting go at last. "Sorry," she directed at Corrine. "I just-"

"I know," Corrine said, and while his eyes were entirely black they gave the impression of rolling in their sockets. "This is great," he told me, "I don't get gifts often."

I grinned down at him. "I dunno why. You're my favorite Summon Spirit, that's for sure."

Sheena was already undoing the collar around Corrine's neck, so that she could knot the bead in beside Corrine's bell. Corrine looked very proud of himself, for a football-sized fox spirit, and admittedly the amethyst looked very fetching against his golden coat. Sheena's hair whipped in the wind, knotted up in its usual wild ponytail, and I realized that she and Corrine wore matching ribbons - pink, in her hair and in his tails.

"It's so funny you had this," Sheena said, gaze oddly wistful as she adjusted the collar back around Corrine's neck. "Zelos gave me this charm for my birthday." She drew from beneath her neck of her robe a thin golden chain; on the end was an amethyst pendant, engraved with faintly luminous sigils. "I thought he was being stupid, but... it's enchanted to protect against lightning, too." She looked thoughtfully at it. "I guess... I'm pretty lucky."

" _We're_ pretty lucky," corrected Corrine.

"Yeah," Sheena agreed, smiling down at him. "We're pretty lucky."

* * *

"What's that expression for?" asked Zelos, justifiably cautious.

"You stole my thunder," I accused him ,"You... thunder-stealer."

"Uh... sorry?"

"You should be." I pouted harder. " _Thunder-stealer._ "

* * *

We made landfall in the early morning, when the world was grey and freezing.

It was colder, this far north. I doubted we'd have docked safely without Undine's help - we'd have just been another boat dashed on the rocks. I couldn't see through the fog, but Lloyd pressed forward, Sheena at his elbow and Undine somewhere in the water below. We drifted in alongside an ancient oak pier, spotted with lichen, and Zelos and I waded through the seaweed to tie the boat off nearer shore.

"This is it," said Sheena, at once determined and defeated. 

"The air feels weird," Genis observed, stepping off the boat and flexing his feet on the dock. 

"Professor, do you need help?" Lloyd asked, keys to the ignition jangling at his hip as he leaned into the cabin, all concern. "Uh, you look kind of green."

"I'm fine," came Raine's voice. It was several minutes before the woman herself emerged. She climbed onto the dock with Lloyd's assistance and stumbled towards solid ground, where she lowered herself, slowly and gratefully, into a sitting position. "I just need a moment," she said, daring us to say anything. 

"Wow, it's really foggy," said Colette, waving a hand through the air. "I can barely see!"

She sounded delighted.

"Have we got everything?" asked Sheena. "If... everything goes okay, we can just leave on the Rheairds right away, so we might not come back."

Lloyd turned, gobsmacked. "What? We can't leave the boat!"

"That _was_ the plan, bud," Zelos said gently. "There'll be other boats, I promise."

"But..."

"Lloyd," said Raine, voice flat, "I am _not_ getting back on that boat, or any boat. Ever."

Lloyd sagged. "Okaaaaay."

"...Maybe we could put the boat in a wing pack?" Colette suggested. Lloyd brightened.

"Hey, no," Zelos scolded, "We only have so many to start with, and Rheairds are _made_ to go in wing packs. Your janky boat _definitely_ isn't."

"It's not janky!" Lloyd whined.

"Zelos is probably right," I said, consoling. "I don't know much about how they work, but something tells me you'd end up with... well, a lot of broken boat."

"But... my boat..."

"You can always come back for it later," Genis reasoned. "You _are_ gonna have a Rheaird. You can fly out here and drive the boat back to land."

Lloyd brightened for a second time, hope returned. "Oh, yeah! You're right!"

Zelos rolled his eyes behind Lloyd's back. 

Lloyd had a heartfelt farewell with the as-yet-to-be-renamed _Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow_. Colette rubbed his back. Raine eventually got to her feet, and sighed, looking much better for a few minutes on dry land, and peered out into the mist. "It shouldn't be too far north from here. Come on," she said, as if we hadn't all been waiting around for her to get her bearings, "Let's go." 

* * *

The Temple of Lightning was a little over a mile inland. It was a pillar of mossy stone, tall as any skyscraper, and had no door, only a gaping archway overgrown with dangling ivy. The passageway beyond the arch was dark stone, a purple so deep that it was almost black. The feeling of an oncoming storm - the tension in the air, the strange heaviness, the feeling of energy not yet discharged - had only intensified the nearer we came to the Temple. Here, at the mouth, it felt like a force field.

"Huh. There's no oracle stone or anything," Lloyd observed, staring up at the lip of the enormous stone archway. "There's not even a front door."

"This is the flourishing world," Raine agreed, looking pleased with Lloyd for noticing. "It probably isn't functioning as a seal right now."

"We can just go in?" Lloyd asked, uncertain.

"Well, we're not gonna get an invitation," Zelos pointed out.

The world beyond the threshold was _different_.

I'd suspected, before, that the temples were extradimensional in the same way as the Tower of Salvation; here, it was impossible to deny. The archway opened onto a long stone walkway, wide as a city street, but to either side the world fell away into shimmering purple _nothing_. I leaned over the balustrade, fascinated. There were supports, yes, of the same dark stone, but they faded, as if obscured by invisible clouds.

"Hey, be careful," Zelos said, "You could fall over."

"This is cool," I said, straightening up. "Raine, I think this is its own place, like the Tower of Salvation."

Raine nodded. "I think you're right. Fascinating."

"Theory," I said, "Did you ever notice that the altars in the other temples look really out of place?"

Raine blinked. "...Now that you mention it, they didn't seem part of the original design, no."

"What if," I posited, "these temples, or whatever - they predate Mithos? And he just added the altars later as a kind of prop? Or even an anchor. I wonder if he's bound the Summon Spirits there somehow. Maybe..." I looked up at what should have been the sky - or even a ceiling - but was instead nothing at all, "Maybe the power of the Summon Spirits make these places? Or this is like a portal into their domain?"

"It's an interesting hypothesis," Raine allowed, tapping her chin. "But outside of conjecture..."

"Uh, Professor? Edie?" Lloyd said, waving his hands, "We're kind of here for a reason, remember."

"Ah. Of course," Raine gathered herself. "We should keep moving."

"Spoilsport," I accused.

We continued unimpeded for about a hundred yards before Sheena threw up a hand.

"I remember this," she said. "Those lines on the ground, the white pearly stuff, they're like electric fences, but they go on a pattern. I think..." She squinted up. "Yeah, it's the same as when the sky flashes." I blinked, following her gaze. I hadn't even noticed the rhythm. "It's hard to pay attention and go through at the same time, so someone will have to call out when to go... I can start."

"Actually," said Raine, a hand on Sheena's shoulder, "it might be easier to use Edie for this."

" _Use_ me?" I repeated scandalized. "What happened to ' _it's not in the spirit of the trial_ '?"

Raine shot me a look. It wasn't a very flattering impression of her voice, but she'd started it. "We're not on a Journey of Regeneration anymore," she pointed out. "We're here to defeat Volt." 

She looked down the walkway to the point where it widened. Three pathways branched from that platform, dividing still further. They snaked out into the haze; some flared into staircases leading nowhere, and others shimmered strangely in the distance. There were five electric 'gates' obstructing our way to the wider platform, which looked relatively safe; it was a distance of forty yards, maybe forty-five. 

"Can you get us to that platform in one jump?" Raine asked, after a moment. "It would be faster and safer than going through each trap individually."

I squinted. 

"Yeah," I relented. "Be ready for a messy landing, though. Who wants to go first?"

"Landing?" asked Zelos, frowning.

"You've seen me 'jump', right?" I said, making air quotes. "Or did you think I was just really super fast?"

"Yeah, but..."

"I'll go first," Sheena volunteered, holding out her arm. I nodded, locked my elbow to hers and seized her other shoulder for stability. There was a _lurch_ , and Sheena wobbled for a moment before regaining her balance. I looked back along the walkway, and frowned. I'd cut it a little close - if Sheena had fallen on landing, it wouldn't have been pretty. "I'm fine here," she said, misinterpreting my worry. "You should probably get Lloyd next."

Lloyd was, in fact, waiting impatiently on the other side. 

"Hey, what the heck?" Zelos asked me, "How long have you been able to do that?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. A while. Lloyd?"

Lloyd wrapped an arm around my shoulder, and I put one around his waist.

My landing was much better the second time - well within the safe zone. Lloyd fell over, though.

I took them over one by one, leaving Zelos for last.

"Are you sure that's safe?" he asked dubiously. 

I smiled. "I used it to disarm Kratos once," I said. "I know what I'm doing. Come on." He relented, mimicking Lloyd's posture - and then he sprawled sideways, groaning. 

"Is he gonna throw up?" asked Genis, chortling. 

"You threw up your first time," I reminded him. Genis made a face at me. "I need a break before I do that again. What now?"

"I'm not sure," Raine admitted. "These pathways are... strange. Sheena?"

"Sorry, Sheena winced, "I don't remember this. I know it took a long time... Oh!" She snapped her fingers. "I know. There are these golden... statues? I can't remember, but we had to put them into place to get the altar to come to life. And there's one of those Sorcerer's Ring pedestals. Huh. I just remembered that." She frowned. "Nothing else is coming back to me."

" _Method of loci,_ " I said, smiling. She gave me a look. "You're more likely to remember things in a familiar place." My mood dipped a little. I knew _that_ well enough. "Anyway," I went on, "It kind of sounds like a circuit, right?"

Raine brightened. "Yes! That would follow. Golden statues... I'm sure we'll have to find them. Let's go."

We plunged forward following the tried-and-true 'always keep to the left-hand wall' method - which worked, even without the wall. Sheena kept up point beside Lloyd, eyes peeled for traps. There were more of those electric gates to jump over, but not so many in a row, which was a relief. But it was impossible to feel at ease; the air crawled up my spine and set me on edge, always on the verge of... _something_. 

It was hard to track where we'd gone already - hence the left-hand wall method - and the monsters here had a nasty habit of fading suddenly into view, like we were playing with the draw distance turned way down. They were... upsetting.

I had expected lightning elementals, yes, but some of the monsters had the eerie quality of being sketched out of static - flickering, inconstant shapes that were hard to look at and hard to anticipate. It didn't help that the air pressed in against my eardrums, as if I was experiencing a sudden change in altitude and never getting the chance to reset - I felt off my game, discomfited and uncertain. The others were the same way - a second too slow, one inch in the wrong direction.

We found the first 'statue' after nearly an hour: it was taller than I was, an abstract shout in gold geometry. It was nothing like a person in shape - but I had the uneasy feeling that it was perceiving me as I perceived it.

"What do we do with it?" asked Lloyd, prodding it with the toe of his boot.

Sheena shrugged. "Beats me."

I could see the two terminals that must have been either end of this 'circuit' - circles of gold and amethyst set into the stone floor, tails disappearing into the haze - but no way to use _this thing_ to connect them.

"Honestly no idea," I said, folding my arms. "I say we knock it over."

"Let's keep that as an option for later," said Raine, wry. "We still haven't found the pedestal for the Sorcerer's Ring yet. Let's wait until then."

Lloyd grumbled and gave it another _kick_.

We made our way around a corner - never mind that there was no wall to corner, which didn't seem to matter to the space inside the temple - and arrived, for the first time, at a doorway.

There was no door; only an empty stone rectangle set in the air, through which we saw a void. It was entirely dark beyond the threshold - until, after a few moments, lightning struck. I made a disconsolate noise, because I could deal with heights. I couldn't deal with heights _in the dark_ , especially when magic was involved. Lloyd started forward, unafraid, but I hesitated.

"I'll wait here?" I suggested. "You guys.... Come get me when it's time to kick butt?"

Zelos squinted at me. "Are you afraid of the dark, Miss Mysterious?"

"I'm afraid of falling to my death in a magical abyss," I disagreed. 

"You'll be fine," assured Raine. "The pathway is stone, and you can hold onto me."

I sighed, but gave in, taking her hand like wuss in a haunted house.

It was awful. Had it been simply _dark_ , I would have coped; we had magic that made light, not to mention Sheena's new lantern. But the lightning shrieked across the world at odd intervals, turning black to searing white and dropping us back into absolute darkness. There was no chance to adjust our eyes, which was probably the point. I clung like a limpet to Raine's side, jumping at the sound of thunder long after the lightning had faded.

And then we were out.

I dropped to my knees as Lloyd ran forward to inspect the pedestal - which did, indeed, look like the usual order of business. 

"Screw that," I decided. "This sucks."

"Perhaps you should hold someone else's hand next time," Raine suggested, flexing her hand as if I'd broken it. "To cut down on damages."

"I could give you a piggyback ride," Colette suggested. "It'd be fun!"

I nodded glumly. That _did_ sound kind of fun. Colette had _wings._

The purpose of the trial revealed itself to us at the next 'statue' - Lloyd pointed the ring at it, pulled the proverbial trigger, and the thing... _changed_.

There was the sound of distant, booming thunder, but no light, no sparks; a pillar became a twisting arch bridging the gap between one terminal and the other, a shape like a broken spine. It was oddly - in the same way that I had felt the first one was watching me - _joyous._ If the other one had been watchful, this one was a cry of freedom, or a bolt of raucous, wild laughter.

I shook my head.

It was a lump of metal.

"I don't get modern art," I said, hands propped on my hips. "Kids these days."

It seemed like the right thing to say - but it wasn't very funny, in the moment.

No one was feeling great, not right now.

We wove through the temple - which gave the impression of changing around us, settling only when observed - and transformed seven strange statues. Then, no doubt by magic, we could see a path where before there had only been a - there was no other word for it - _not-_ path. I was feeling very upset by the whole ordeal, I really, really wanted to make someone else as upset as I was. Bonus points if it was Volt.

"It's here," breathed Sheena. The fog of perception seemed to lift, and all at once it became clear that there was only one path: that leading directly from the entrance and towards the altar platform. "It's time."

"He won't speak Kharlesian," Raine reminded her. "Stay calm and let me translate."

Sheena nodded, jaw tight. Corrine - who had more or less been out and about all day, which was unusual - hopped up onto her shoulder.

We filed out onto the platform, fanning out around the altar. I didn't have to look back to know that the walkway to the exit had disappeared.

It made a kind of sense.

Volt represented the most volatile natural element; he was not humanoid, not anthropomorphized beyond the bare minimum because it was in his nature to be inconstant. Even the pronoun - that aspect of humanizing a chaotic innate force into a 'him' - came from scholars, not Volt, not the other Spirits. This place was unreal because it was not in keeping with Volt's 'personality' to keep one single shape, one form - it was _lightning_ given voice. The statues - the strange, watchful, _joyful_ , furious constructs - each was a manifestation of its power, of its wild complexity. That enough was evidence of its inhumanity.

How did you fight something like that? How did you _negotiate_ with it?

Sheena stepped up onto the altar dais, and Volt descended.

It was so unlike the other Summon Spirits; there was no pretense of humanity beyond those two gleaming eyes, strips of light across the surface of a bubble. Its nucleus was a ball of compressed energy, its perimeter forming concentric circles of electricity in the air. The atmosphere was stifling - suffocating, supercharged and overwhelming in the extreme. Its mana suffused the air, and my skin prickled and itched, flashed hot and cold - it looked down.

Volt spoke.

Its voice was a series of concussive silences, interspersed with the boom and rattle of thunder; how Raine understood it, I couldn't begin to guess. 

"I am one who is bound to Mithos," Raine translated, "Who are you?"

"I am Sheena." Sheena's voice rang through the oppressive fog, clear and bright. "I ask that thou annulst thy pact with Mithos and establish a new pact with me."

My ears rang as Volt replied.

"He says that his pact with Mithos is broken, but he no longer desires a pact."

"Why?"

"He says, 'I will have no more dealings with people, therefore I desire no pact.'"

Sheena turned to regard Volt. 

"I am trying to undo what Mithos has done to this world," she said, "What you helped him do. This world is broken. I _DEMAND YOUR POWER_."

I had expected desperation. Sheena had brought _command_.

There was a great vacuum of sound. 

"'Very well'," Raine translated, hands closing around her staff even as she moved into position, "'Then prove yourself!'"

We didn't need telling twice. 

Volt's slitted eyes flared wide; lightning glanced from seven shields. I expected it to ground itself, but instead the magic rebounded, and the room was full of light shattering in all directions. I heard Colette cry out in pain, but I didn't have time to look around; it was all I could do to evade, black sword drawn and arcing through the haze towards Volt.

The blade cleaved a gap in the electric field, but only for a moment, and then Volt was on the offensive.

"Gahh!" 

I heard the clatter of metal on stone - one of Lloyd's swords skittered past me, electricity still shivering along the blade. Lloyd was gripping empty hand in empty hand, and I could smell burning flesh. I came around, clipping through space to bring him into Raine's orbit, and then I had to pull up a shield again - and even then the tail end shot through me like every neuron was on fire.

"He's targeting the metal," Zelos snapped, hand spasming around the hilt - but Zelos didn't drop the sword. For a moment I thought he'd been paralyzed - and then the butt end of the sword blossomed into grey stone. It was the same spell - or the same root - as the stone spears in the tower - I let out a whump of air as Genis collided with my midsection, thrown free of an explosion in magnesium white fire.

I righted Genis, hands going to the clutch of poison darts - but there would be nothing _physical_ for them to hit. I swore - I couldn't do stone, but - yes. I tore the leather guard from my left elbow and gripped the sword more firmly. Leather wasn't a perfect insulator, but neither was stone. We worked with what we had.

" _Angel feathers!_ "

A ring of sunlight spread out from Colette, a wave of protective magic that broke on each of us like an enveloping hurricane, and Lloyd plunged past me. It took a moment to register his weapons as the wooden dummy swords he used for practice - and another to realize that it didn't matter, because his technique drove the air into a blade before each strike. 

" _Come, Maiden of the Mist; I summon you, Undine!_ "

Pure water, it turns out, is a pretty good insulator.

I attacked on the heels of Undine's defense, sword cutting darkly through the electric haze - but it was impossible to tell if we were winning or losing. Volt wasn't a _person_ \- it didn't even resemble an animal. It was just a shape in the air, and all I could do was swing at it and hope for the best.

I danced around the lightning, dragging Raine out of the path of danger once, twice - and then getting caught in it myself a third time, my leg dead and burning as I hobbled sideways, trying to keep my balance. Raine's mana washed through me, and the dead flesh woke up, the memory of Volt's attack in pins and needles down my calf and in the soles of my feet - I had to keep going.

I attacked again, and this time the force behind it was burning sunlight - it was light and shadow that came naturally to me, it was bending light that let me go invisible, and now it was tangible, a blade seething white in the air. Sheena leapt over and past me, hands twisting as a gout of flame erupted from the space between her palms; I fell back, and the image of a lion, Lloyd's mana made manifest, slammed Volt backwards, down, as Sheena descended in a rain of steel.

A gong rang silent.

"E-enough," Raine managed, when the world had gone still but for the sound of our labored breathing. "Speak your vow."

Sheena was shimmering as she stood, light arcing off the tips of her fingers and grounding in the stone.

"For the sake of everyone that risked their lives to protect me," she said, "And for the sake of all those for whom we risk our lives: I will save both worlds. I won't give up, not like Mithos did. _That's_ my promise."

Volt spoke.

"The vow has been made. I entrust my power to the pact-maker, Sheena."

For a moment, there was peace - something like a tuning fork, low and clear, radiating out through the air, and through me. 

Then the earth shook. If the platform had been more real, we would have fallen, stone supports crumbling below us - but instead it was just shaking, bouncing, the ground plane of the world dropping out and jolting back up again as the universe reoriented itself. I fell sideways, knee cracking painfully against the floor, and gripped my leg, cursing lost to the deafening rumble.

The quake went on for thirty seconds - and then Undine appeared, twisting out of the air in a halo of glimmering green-blue light. 

"A link between the two worlds has been severed," she said, in a voice like a stone dropped in a deep well. It echoed; it was the vastness of the deepest ocean, a whisper in still water. The world had changed: so said Undine, Maiden of the Mist. Beside her, Volt's voice intoned that same natural wisdom, a booming vacuum that turned the air to tingling vapor. One at a time was strange enough; two Spirits, side by side, were overwhelming.

Sheena hissed out a long breath.

"One down," she said, "three to go."

* * *

"Are you _sure_ we can't go back for the boat?"

"No, Lloyd," Raine said, "We can't go back for the boat."

Zelos clapped him on the shoulder. "It's good to experience loss every so often. Keeps you fresh."

It was late afternoon; the air had cleared, and the sky was blue and cloudless. Gone was the stifling press of energy - I could breathe here. On this side, I could see why the temple had affected me so badly. It had been like a dream, a bad one, except that there was no waking up. Even in the forest, in my drowning nightmare, there had still been somewhere _else,_ somewhere safe. In the temple, there had only been the dream.

I turned my face to the wind, marveling in the realness of it all.

"Does that mean we can use the Rheairds now?" asked Genis, hopeful.

"Um, maybe," said Sheena. "We might have to wait for them to charge."

"Don't you have to ask Volt to help out?" Lloyd wondered. "Like when you asked Undine?"

Sheena frowned. "I think he kind of... understood? I don't know. It changed after he accepted the pact. Weird."

Genis dug his wing pack out from the bottom of his rucksack, held it aloft in a thoughtful kind of way, and the Rheaird unfolded into the air, a monster of white fiberglass and sky-blue metalwork. I sank down on the turf, achy legs stretched out, as he clambered on to examine the console. It was nice out - not warm, exactly, but a comfortable chill, the kind you got on nice days back home.

"Yeah," said Genis, sounding disappointed, "it's charging, but it has a while."

"I'm fine with that," said Sheena, massaging a spot below her right ear, "I could use a good rest after Volt."

"Me, too," agreed Corrine.

"You didn't _do_ anything," Sheena countered, flopping down near my ankle.

"I'm moral support," Corrine insisted. "I morally supported you."

"You supported our morals or you supported us in a moral way?" I asked, grinning.

"Either! Both!"

"If everyone's exhausted, I could do the cooking tonight," suggested Raine, in a hopeful sort of way.

"Uh," said Zelos, into the sudden silence, "sure?"

"Great!"

" _Zelos_ ," hissed Sheena.

"What?" he hissed back. The whispering wasn't really necessary - Raine was already off scouting for a good campsite. With our luck, she'd have dinner ready within the hour. It wasn't even _evening_ yet. "It's not like I was gonna volunteer. Besides," he said, rolling his head back, "I bet Raine's a dynamite cook."

Genis and Colette burst into giggles. I snorted.

"She's... creative," said Sheena, generously.

"It's probably best to lose your appetite now, rather than later," I advised.

"She can't be _that_ bad," said Zelos, eyebrows arched.

"'Bad' is putting it lightly," muttered Genis, suddenly mutinous. "Remember the eels?"

"Remember the spinach thing?" I sighed.

"Remember your birthday cake, Genis?" Colette recalled. 

Lloyd and Genis shuddered.

"What was the thing she made when we were camping near that lake?" Sheena tried to summon up the memory, and shook her head. "I can't believe you ate that, Edie. I thought you were going to vomit up a lung."

"I can't hurt her feelings," I protested. "She's just so _cute_ when she's excited."

"You were green!"

"Eh, I lived, didn't I?"

"...Huh," said Zelos, peering over at Raine. "You think it's too late to change her mind?"

* * *

It would take all night for the Rheairds to charge, which I counted as a very good thing. The Temple had been stressful for all of us, but particularly Sheena, and none of us were at our best, physically speaking. 

My right leg was stiff and sore, the calf webbed with scar tissue and blisters, my foot black and blue with burst blood vessels. It would time time to heal entirely; Raine's magic was extraordinary, but it worked in concert with the body, not in spite of it. Zelos and I were suited more to the treatments of minor lacerations, bruises and burns, and Raine did not have an infinite well of mana to draw on. She had been injured, too, although not as seriously as Lloyd.

Lloyd had taken a few direct hits to hands and forearms, and his gloves and coat were a tattered mess. His palms were covered in tough, knotty scars and he couldn't flex his hands flat - he couldn't really get them beyond an arthritic claw, and that was a problem. There was a long process of stretching and massaging and breaking down of tissue to accompany the application of healing magic - and it sounded painful. 

On the upside, Raine didn't have time to make us dinner.

"There's always next time," I told her, watching Lloyd wince and whine as Raine worked on him. Colette was feeding him bits of buttered bread, so it wasn't all bad. 

"I do like that cream stew Genis makes," Raine allowed. "I was very interested to try out a new recipe, though. Did you know, barnacles are actually a kind of mollusc?"

Genis - only a few feet away, tending to the fire - coughed noisily. It sounded suspiciously like a laugh. I'd _had_ barnacles, and they were pretty good if you cooked them right, but you didn't really want Raine to be experimenting with them. She had funny ideas about preparing seafood, and, more broadly, was worryingly lenient about the condition of 'spoiled food', on the premise that many molds were actually edible. Genis made a choking noise, face hidden behind his sleeve.

"The smoke is pretty strong," Sheena volunteered, glancing anxiously in Raine's direction.

"Uh-huh," Genis agreed, hoarsely.

"Sooo," said Zelos, settling down with his own bowl, "Where to next?"

Genis coughed again. "Aren't we - sorry - going to the mine? We promised we'd help Presea," he said sternly, as if Zelos might have forgotten.

"Well, obviously," Zelos allowed, "but we have the Rheairds now. It might be a good idea to stop back in at Meltokio," he gestured over at the campfire. "It wasn't like we had time to do much in Sybak, and I've got way more connections in Meltokio. 'Sides, in case you haven't noticed, you're all in pretty rough shape." He looked meaningfully at my ruined pant leg, Lloyd's coat, and Sheena's robes.

"No way," Genis argued, "You said it yourself, right? We've got the Rheairds, so it makes more sense to help Presea out first. Besides, if we go to Meltokio we'll be stuck there another night, probably longer." His tone implied Zelos would get _distracted_ , which seemed a little unfair.

"I'm okay," Lloyd insisted, "I can patch stuff up on my own, and I'd rather go try to help Presea. I don't like the idea of her..." he trailed off. "Anyway, we did promise."

"I'm with Genis," said Sheena, "Anyway, Meltokio's a walled city! Who says we could even get in? It's not like _it_ has a sneaky back entrance."

"I don't care either way," Raine sighed. "It _would_ be nice to have an opportunity to rest and review the information we collected in Sybak." Raine hadn't been much use on the riverboat or at sea, and we'd only been in Sybak for one day. It wasn't hard to guess that she might be feeling a little _ineffectual_. Not to mention seasick. "But I'll defer to the group."

"I'd like to help Presea," offered Colette. "She reminds me a lot of me, and I don't want her to be alone for too long. She shouldn't have to live like that."

Zelos looked at me - not searching for an ally, but asking for an opinion, I noted.

"If we go back to Meltokio now, I don't think it'll be a very restful visit," I said, smiling thinly in Genis' direction. "Besides, you and Colette are for sure being tracked right now. If we can get that inhibitor ore, then we might be able to move a bit more freely." I didn't remember the mine as being some big combat zone, anyway. "I vote Toize Valley, then drop in on Altessa."

Altessa.

Now that I'd had my big episode, I kind of wanted another opportunity to talk to him.

It was hard _not_ to be curious. If I had something to do with Rodyle, or with Cruxis - well, him and Tabatha had raised more questions than they'd answered. Getting incapacitated by Clara was the last big surprise I'd been able to weather - and if being a potential vessel made me susceptible to Cruxis' influence, I wanted to know sooner, rather than later.

"Fine, fine," Zelos relented, "I give in. Mine it is."

"Mine time," I said. "Mine _crime_ time."

"A fine time for mine crimes," Raine said, absentmindedly. 

I turned to beam at her. She turned pink.

"What? It was an obvious joke, anyway," she complained.

* * *

"And we're sure they're _all_ the way charged?" I asked, arms crossed.

Genis rolled his eyes. " _Yes_ , Edie, they're all charged."

"Don't act like I'm being irrational," I said, reaching out to pull him into a noogie. He slipped free, but it took him a moment. "I don't want us to get split up again."

"It's really fine, Edie," Sheena assured me, looking embarrassed. "It was my fault for not checking the fuel gauge, anyway."

"It wasn't _anyone_ 's fault," Raine interjected, before things could get too needlessly emotional. "Everything is working as it should be. If we head north, we can get there in two and a half hours. That's plenty of leeway in the event of an emergency."

"...Fine," I gave in, helpless in the face of Raine's aggressive logic. "But if it's looking like the weather is bad and we might not make it-"

"We'll land early and wait for it to pass," Raine agreed, but she was humoring me.

"Come on already," cried Lloyd, already raring to go. "We've got a mine to break into!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :p kind of a short chapter, but dividing it here made more sense!! i was on kind of a roll this weekend, but i'll probably have to get back to irl work this week... thank u punpun and turnarklight for hangin' around!!!  
> (i started an Edie playlist... is that fun or embarrassing?)  
> *i also know that's not what the method of loci actually is but come on lads its close enuf


	19. Toize Valley Mine

After nearly a month of traveling on foot, flying on the Rheairds was a little surreal. Everything about them was too good to be true: if you know where you were going, they could go on autopilot, they regulated things like temperature and air pressure automatically, and the comm system kept us in constant contact - all while traveling just below the speed of sound.

Well, I wasn't sure about the last one - I wasn't an aerospace engineer, or a physicist, or even someone who went on planes often. All I knew was that we were going very fast and expending very little effort.

We had six Rheairds total, Sheena and Colette doubled up on hers. Lloyd had, so far, done the lion's share of the effort in take off and landing, and so I was left cruising along at my ease. Zelos was even _reading_ \- although he might have been doing it just to annoy Sheena, I wasn't sure. It was a massive improvement over land travel, in terms of efficiency, but I was oddly lonely, even with the comms. It just wasn't the same; where was the back-and-forth, the ebb and flow of movement and conversation, the camaraderie? 

How did motorcyclists do it? 

I had an idea of what was missing, but no way to fix the problem: there wasn't a _soundtrack_.

You couldn't travel by vehicle and not have a _soundtrack_ . You needed radio, or tapes, or at the very least a group singalong. Silence wasn't to be borne, and no amount of stimulating conversation gave rocketing over the distant landscape the correct kind of movie-montage _je ne sais quoi._ It was demoralizing; even boat travel had provided a calming nautical ambiance.

" _Ambiance_ ? We must be traveling at four hundred miles per hour! Why do you need _ambiance?_ "

"It's the principle of the thing, Raine."

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," said Sheena, voice hollow over the comm, "But is that the mine?"

I drew my attention away from annoying Raine. Yes, we had come up on a mountain range running perpendicular to our path, jagged peaks wearing a veil of low cloud, but the glare off the water made it difficult to see much from high up. I came off of autopilot, coasting wide to follow Sheena. She hadn't brought it up just because we were nearing our destination - she had spotted something wrong, but I couldn't yet see the problem.

"What is it?" asked Lloyd. 

"There's a big ship in the harbor," Sheena said, sounding worried. "It looks like-"

"That's a naval ship," Zelos agreed, "What's the army doing _here_?"

"They couldn't be tracking us," Raine said, "Even if they projected our destination by tracking you or Colette-"

"Nah, they'd have had to have left _way_ before we did, even if they were traveling from the base on Altamira Island. Man, that's basically a warship," Zelos complained, "I didn't even know those were still _around_."

"Meltokio has a _navy_?" I asked, bewildered and a little upset.

"Of course they do," Zelos said, as if it was obvious. "They mostly protect merchant ships and cruise liners and stuff. I wonder if they're here with the Lezareno company. Damn, that could be bad."

"Lezareno?"

"They own the mine and pretty much all of Altamira," Zelos explained, "but I kind of thought they had their own muscle."

Everything I'd seen so far implied that Tethe'alla was united under the Meltokio royal family and the Church of Martel, apart from Mizuho. I had no idea if Altamira was part of the Empire, or if it was its own little banana republic - my time in Tethe'alla had, so far, been short on political science lessons. If there was a naval base on Altamira, then they probably weren't outright enemies.

"What do we do?" asked Lloyd. Now that we were closer, I could see the ship, and more of the harbor. It hadn't been abandoned _that_ long, and there still remained the bones of a bustling mining operation and all that entailed, but the battleship was new and shiny and completely out-of-place beside the two abandoned freighters still moored there. "They'll see us if we go much lower."

"We may as well land," Raine said, sounding resigned. "Even if we head up the coast and travel on foot, there's a chance they've already spotted us. We don't have the fuel to make it back to the mainland."

"Maybe we can convince them to help," suggested Colette.

"I wouldn't count on it," Zelos sighed. "Well, at least we can check it out."

Toize Valley wasn't just a mine - you needed infrastructure, even in a place like this, and the ghost town down below was uncomfortably familiar. 

My home state was full of places just like it - empty warehouses, shuttered shopfronts, twee attempts at cultivating some sort of downtown - places where everything stank of abandonment and low-intensity dread. Toize Valley was what it looked like when an industry _happened_ to some boring stretch of nowhere. It was what happened when the money ran out, or the mines dried up, or someone a thousand miles away made the decision to close the plant, or the factory, or the mill.

We touched down on the outskirts of the little village, a boarded-up brick building obscuring us from the battleship and the path leading to the mine.

"Ugh," I said.

"This is creepy," agreed Lloyd. "Where is everybody?"

"No mine, no money," I replied. "No money, no jobs."

"But..." said Colette, "Isn't it _good_ that they're not mining Exspheres?"

"'Course it is," I replied, "The people who worked here probably wouldn't agree, though."

"Well, they probably got other jobs, right?" Lloyd reasoned.

"You would hope," Raine said. "As much as I would like to debate the socio-economic ramifications of-"

"The what?" Lloyd asked.

"Never mind," Raine sighed. "With any luck they will have been watching for ships, not Rheairds."

"You guys hang out here," I said, "I'll scout ahead."

"Whoa," Zelos said, swiping a foot over the patch of earth where I had disappeared, and almost tripping me.

"Hey," I protested, giving him a light kick as I passed, "I'm invisible, not intangible."

"Don't do anything stupid," Raine warned me. There was a moment's pause. "I _know_ you're still listening."

"Yes, yes," I agreed, although I had made _some_ distance from them, "You neither."

The main thoroughfare was deserted. The docks were to the south of town, a series of concrete wharfs studded with crane rails, ramps, slipways and control towers. There were towers and piles of wooden pallets, huge half-used reels of cable and rope, clusters or rusted pallet jacks and a small forest of stripped-down forklifts. The towers had been boarded up or removed entirely, gone but for mountings on a patch of pale concrete.

There were two freighters still in the harbor, but they were pockmarked and pitted with rust and barnacles; one was listing dangerously sideways, and the other riding very low in the water. The battleship was longer and larger than the freighters, the aftcastle painted with goldenrod stripes and, in white, _WAVEBREAKER._ A section at the bow was painted with a motif of red and gold flowers interwoven with the symbol of Martel, in white.

Its beautifying effect was spoiled by the vast visible armament of cannons.

The men on board weren't in full armor, but they looked vaguely military, in a broad and unkind sort of way. It was strange: the ship wouldn't have looked out of place in a period piece about the first world war, but the soldiers were Napoleonic at best, and their weapons more archaic still. I didn't see any firearms, and the cannons looked straight out of a pirate movie. 

I could only assume that it was Cruxis' doing - limiting the development of tools for mass warfare while permitting advancements in transportation and manufacturing. The Desians and Renegades used space-agey stuff with energy beams, and Sylvarant was still at crossbows and horses, and everything in-between was either regulated or produced so sparingly that it hardly existed.

Magic made everything so _weird_.

I left the docks and went uphill towards the mine. There were two knights standing guard at the entrance to a concrete staging area, but they looked bored and at their ease, which at least meant they hadn't spotted the Rheairds. There was a kind of administrative office with plexiglass windows built into the left side of the antechamber. It was unoccupied and the doors were locked. Peering through the window revealed it empty but for trash and broken furniture.

The concrete staging area opened onto a wide, downward sloping tunnel with four sets of tracks, two of which were occupied by funicular elevator platforms. Four posts abutted each rail-line, each set with indicator lights - the two absent platforms were blinking green, while the other two were dull orange - inactive, probably. 

I approached the lip of the tunnel; it went down deep into the mountain, diminishing lanterns indicating only that it was a straight path, and a long one. There were steps leading down the far left side of the passageway, and a ramp down the right, probably for maintenance or for use in an emergency. I didn't see any other knights, which meant they were likely down in the mine.

I didn't bother climbing down to look - whoever was down there, they were probably well-armed and wouldn't be happy to see us. 

I made my way back to the group.

"So," I said, reappearing near Zelos' elbow, "They haven't seen us, but there are at least half a dozen soldiers on the boat and two guarding the mine elevator thing. Two outta the four elevators are missing, so I'm guessing the rest of them are down there. Definitely Papal Knights, but some of the ones on the boat look like mercenaries."

"Did you have to do that?" Zelos asked, looking miffed.

"She thinks it's funny," Genis said, and the two shared a rare moment of kinship.

"Can we get to the mine without alerting the people on the ship?" asked Raine.

"Yeah, I think so," I agreed, "They weren't really watching the land. If we can get the two hanging out at the entrance, we can go the rest of the way on foot."

Raine considered this. "If there are working elevators, why not use those?"

"They'll hear us coming."

"Yes, but if we deal with the guards on top quietly," Raine said, "They have no reason to expect _us_."

"Do Papal Knights have radios or anything?" I asked Zelos.

"Radios?" he asked, blinking. "No, that's definitely a Renegade thing."

I nodded. "Okay. Then..."

I rummaged around in my pack, and, after some thought, gave Sheena two of my darts.

"We're probably quietest," I concluded, "and this stuff works pretty fast. It's... I don't _think_ it's lethal?" I volunteered, uncertain.

"Wh - that's something you should know!" Sheena insisted, holding them like they might bite.

"Well," I said, frowning, "the venom is from that paralyzing octopus thing at Thoda, remember? I'm just not sure about the dosage. Look, it's that or we fight them properly, and somehow I think that's gonna be really loud."

"Y'know," she said, "In Mizuho, it's considered really bad manners to give someone a weapon if you don't know what it does."

It was a rote protest - Sheena and I went ahead of the others, who had weapons ready in case we missed or the poison didn't work how I expected, but it didn't end up being necessary. The guards went down easy, a couple of dull thumps cushioned by the intervention of Lloyd and Zelos, and the way was clear.

"Well," said Raine, looking down at the brightly feathered tail of one dart, "they'll certainly know we're here if they see this."

I scratched my nose. "They bleed a lot when you pull them out, though."

"Does it matter?" asked Sheena, exasperated. "Let's go _before_ that happens!"

It took Raine only a few minutes to puzzle out the controls; there was a cacophonous thumping and whirring, and the middle-left platform came to life. The others filed on. I hit the appropriate big green button and ran to join them, which wasn't hard, because the platform took a good thirty seconds to actually start moving. Soon we were going down, down, down, and into the dark.

The air got colder, the lights more irregular, some dim, some out entirely - and soon we began to hear voices. At least two men were arguing, and there was the sound of something else heavy and mechanical in the background that I couldn't identify.

"-cut his eye out, then!"

"And then what? Even if we break this open we'll still need Lezareno on our side, and that old fool-"

"Then cut his eye out and kill him! I don't give a damn!"

"There's still the voice print. He still hasn't given in."

"What a load of horseshit - cut a finger off or something, he'll squawk. People always do."

" _You_ might stoop to torture, but-"

"You stop at beating and starvation?"

"How dare you-"

"Hell with it! I'll do it if you won't!"

"Vharley, if you-"

"Stop me, why don't you, and spend the rest of your life staring at this door."

There was a muffled scream.

" _Regal_ ," I hissed, and then I was gone. 

It took me two huge jumps to reach the end of the tunnel, and one more to follow my momentum sideways and knock the attacker off his feet. He was big, barrel-chested, head shaved except for a strip down the middle; there was a pencil mustache under his thin nose and a sparse goatee on his broad chin. He had dark eyes beneath a heavy brow, and he smelled of sweat and bad cologne. I gripped him by the hair, dragged my arm back, and slammed his head into the stone floor.

People were yelling - there were six Papal Knights and a skinny older man I didn't recognize, and there was Regal, curled in around his hands, nose pressed into the stone as blood began to ooze out from beneath his crumpled body. He was breathing, at least, but there wasn't time to assess the damage. 

I rammed one of the paralyzing bolts into the side of Vharley's neck and charged the nearest Knight, dagger sliding into the seam between breastplate and helmet. He staggered and fell; there was an almost-comical eruption of blood, compressed through the narrow aperture, and I turned, barely avoided one halberd and clumsily parried the other. I was faster than they were, but if they struck me even once - well, it wouldn't be good.

" _Guys, help!_ " I yelled, opting for evasion over direct attack. I disarmed one, stumbled under the weight of his weapon, and sent another dart pinging uselessly off a pauldron. Then the others showed up, and things went much better.

"Edie!" Raine was red-faced and out of breath, "What-"

"Blue-haired guy needs medical attention!" I gestured wildly and rushed to help Sheena, who had the same speed-versus-weight problem going on that I did, and then it was all over. The last Knight dropped, armor smoking slightly from a well-aimed fireball, and it was just us, Regal, and the old guy.

"What was that?" Zelos demanded, looking genuinely pissed off.

"What do you mean?" I asked, adrenaline turning the question hostile, "Guy in trouble, I save guy. That's how we do stuff!"

"You disappeared! You could've died!"

" _Guys_ ," Sheena interrupted, "It's fine, everyone made it out okay-"

"Uh, who is this guy anyway?" Lloyd asked, directing his question at the cowering old man.

"Who's that guy?" asked Zelos, sounding slightly hysterical, "Who's _that_ guy?" He pointed at Regal, who had his back to the cavern wall and was being tended to by Raine. His face was grey, his eyes unfocused and his entire body damp with sweat. His hands were shackled, and one of them was missing the little finger. I looked away, feeling queasy.

"He was being tortured," I said, pretending to inspect the heavy doors that capped the tunnel.

"And this guy?" Lloyd repeated, pointing.

Zelos began to speak - and then paused. "Hey, I know him."

"You do?" asked Genis.

Sheena turned too. "...Wait. He's one of the Bishops in the gate district."

"Please don't kill me," the old man begged, falling to his knees and clasping his hands over his head. "Please, I didn't want to hurt anyone."

"Who is he?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"He-" Zelos paused, and scowled. "He's a priest, obviously. One of the Pope's stooges. What are you doing here?"

"I - nothing," the man pleaded.

"What _nothing_ takes a battleship and a platoon of Papal Knights?" asked Zelos, ire redirected from me to the Bishop in a heartbeat. 

"Please, Chosen," he begged, "Have mercy on me, I didn't..."

"Get talking, and I'll think about it," said Zelos.

"Zelos! You don't have to be mean," chastised Colette, a sentence that went strangely with the blood caking on her chakrams. After all, the Knights had been armed - the Bishop wasn't. Colette was kind - she wasn't soft.

"I..."

"They were... attempting to reopen the mines," croaked Regal. 

Raine had him sitting up again. His wound had closed over, but Raine hadn't managed to regrow the finger. 

Regal looked wrung out and tired - his face was bloodless, underneath the tan, and his hair was filthy, matted with blood and dirt and grease. His clothes weren't much better, especially now with the big bloodstain down his front, and he looked malnourished. He was still muscular, in a wiry sort of way, but he had the look of a big man diminished over time.

"Who?" asked Zelos, because Lloyd was still lightly menacing the Bishop.

"Vharley," Regal spat, jerking his chin at the prone man I'd bowled over, "An Exsphere broker. I believe he was working with the Pope."

"Is, maybe," I said, nudging Vharley's body with the toe of my boot. "He's still alive, I think."

"Good," said Raine, in the cold, detached way she got when she was being scary. "We might be able to use him."

"What about him?" Lloyd asked, gesturing at the Bishop.

"Can you knock him out?" Sheena asked me. "I mean, he _was_ arguing against cutting this guy's eye out. I think."

"I never wished for violence," the Bishop pleaded. "Please..."

"He's harmless enough," said Regal, trying to stand up and wobbling a little. "A coward, perhaps, but..."

"And who are you?" asked Zelos, not sold on anything that was going on here.

"...My name is Regal," replied Regal. "I'm a criminal." He half-lifted his shackled hands to illustrate the point. It still wasn't really convincing.

"What kind of criminal?" asked Raine, her eyebrow raised.

"...I am a murderer," Regal said. He glanced down at the bodies of the Papal Knights. "Although perhaps I find myself in like company," he added, in a tone of thinly-veiled disdain. I was suddenly aware that I'd made a bit of a mess with the first Knight, and that there was, however Vharley had behaved, definitely room for criticism. _As far as first impressions went,_ I thought, _I could have planned that better_. Oh, well.

"Hey, we saved your life," Zelos complained. 

"You're... the Chosen?" Regal asked.

"You're lookin' at him."

"Why would the Chosen attack Papal Knights?"

"Haven't you heard?" Zelos replied, "I'm a traitor to the crown. Conspiring, they said."

Regal's eyes narrowed. "I had heard you were irreverent, but to speak so casually of treason-"

"Why were they gonna cut your eye out?" asked Genis, looking both disgusted and fascinated.

Regal looked down at him, as if trying to decide how to respond. "...The doors are keyed to my retina and voice scan."

Zelos frowned for a moment, and then pointed a finger. " _You're_ Duke Bryant!"

"...Yes."

"Who's Duke Bryant?" asked Lloyd. "You said your name was Regal," he accused.

"Come on," Zelos gave him a look, "It's a title, bud. _Duke_ Regal Bryant, disgraced head of the Lezareno company. Huh! I thought you were under house arrest or something!"

"...I am not, as you can see," Regal said.

"He murdered someone?" Genis asked, wide-eyed. 

"Yeah, some servant girl," Zelos said, squinting.

Regal's face went hard.

"Yes," he agreed, after an uncomfortably long silence.

"Look," I said, barely overcoming the urge to shake someone, "We need to get in there to help a little girl and also save the world a little bit. You get us in and we can take you with us when we skedaddle."

"...I cannot."

"Yes you can," I said, hands on my hips.

"No, I cannot," he countered. "I cannot allow more people to become victims."

I took a deep breath. "Victims of _what?_ "

"Of Vharley," Regal said, eyes downcast. "Of Exspheres."

"Well," I said, clapping him on the bicep and making him flinch, "Good news! The girl we're trying to help is a victim of Exsphere testing, and we need the Inhibitor Ore from inside to make her a Key Crest. So really," I went on, "You're doing more damage if you _don't_ help us out."

Raine gave me a skeptical, exhausted kind of look. I ignored her.

"...I can open the path to the area where Inhibitor Ore is mined," Regal relented, "But I refuse to allow you access to the Exsphere mines."

I looked around at the others.

"Sounds good to me," shrugged Lloyd.

"We should tie this guy up or something, though," said Sheena, gesturing at the Bishop. "We don't want him running back up and telling everyone onboard."

"I'm afraid I didn't bring my fifty feet of rope with me today," Raine said drily.

"I won't - I won't run!" insisted the Bishop.

"I could knock him out," I volunteered.

" _I_ have rope," Lloyd said, brightening. "I got it from the boat!"

Raine sighed.

We tied up Vharley and the Bishop, and Raine escorted Regal to the door. He leaned in close to a tiny black square behind which there had to be some kind of camera, and there was one affirmative beep, followed by a prompt for a verbal command. There was a brief pause, and the low murmur of active machinery. 

" _Alicia_ ," Regal spoke into the console. 

I looked away, suddenly embarrassed.

The doors opened.

"And what about him?" asked Zelos.

"I think," Raine said, giving me a frighteningly sharp look, "That he should come with us. He knows the mine, after all."

* * *

"You _said his name_ ," Raine accused in a whisper. "He's important, isn't he?"

"He's not a bad dude, he's just dramatic," I hissed back. "Trust me, we _need_ him."

"You're impossible," she decided. "What else haven't you told me?"

I made a desperate face at her. "Nothing! Or at least nothing that's need-to-know. Can we talk about this later?"

"... _Later_ ," Raine said, and it was a threat.

* * *

The mine was huge.

It must have been a natural cavern before it was widened out for equipment. There were dark chasms of striated rock, dangling stalactites and amorphous formations glinting beneath a layer of milky calcite. I could hear running water - did this cave connect somehow to the ocean, or was it just rainwater? - and there was the steady drip-drip-drip of constant mineral growth. It had a distinctly chalky kind of smell.

Lights and reflective tape lined the path, and here and there we passed evidence of the people who had worked here - a forgotten glove, a toolbox, a smashed carton of cigarettes. 

"How long has the mine been closed?" I asked, eyes catching on what looked like transformer affixed to a miniature water-wheel.

"...About seven years," Regal said. He was looking better after a bit of bread and water, although he didn't seem any more at ease.

"How come all these machines still work?" asked Lloyd. "Some of them are on, too!"

"The mine is fully automated," Regal explained, apparently more comfortable with technical questions than personal ones, "Most of the equipment you see predates the modern era. We believe it may have been in use since before the Kharlan War."

"That long?" asked Raine. "That sounds impossible."

"It's true that some parts have been replaced or repaired," Regal allowed, "but the core machinery is very old. We believe the mine was rediscovered in-" he cut himself off. "The machinery is very old."

"The rocks are very pretty," said Colette, with such genuine admiration that Sheena burst into giggles.

"They are," Sheena agreed, "They really are."

"Hey, uh," said Lloyd, "what is that?"

We followed his line of sight.

"I thought the mine was locked down?" said Genis, frowning.

"...It has been," Regal agreed, looking equally confused.

"Then what..."

The gnomelette - six inches high, with a squashed little face like an expensive cat and a conical little hat - looked up. It was standing in a shallow pit next to an upturned box; beside it was a discarded mallet, longer than it was tall. We moved towards it. We would _have_ to pass by it, to get to the eastern area of the mine. The gnomelette watched our approach with apparent anticipation, black eyes wide and shining in the dim glow of a flickering work lamp.

There was something unnerving about it; it may just have been the size, but it gave the impression of something much larger scaled down. I had the strange feeling that it must be disproportionately heavy, like a little lead figurine.

"Hey, you!" 

The voice was high and oddly crumpled, like it had been put through a synthesizer.

"Uh. Hi?" Lloyd, creeping up towards the edge and squinting down. 

"Hi yourself!" It replied, "I'm on a journey to find and eat some potion. You got any?"

"Eat?" repeated Colette. "Are you sure you're talking about potion?"

"It's somethin' that's only for adults that makes them feel good!" The gnomelette clarified, eyes narrowed. 

"I... guess he really does mean potion," Raine said.

"How'd you get in here, anyway?" asked Lloyd.

"I'll tell ya. Knock knock."

Lloyd looked back desperately at us. I shrugged.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"Nunya," replied the gnome. 

Beside me, Zelos snorted.

"Nunya who?" asked Lloyd.

" _Nunyabusiness_ ," the gnomelette snapped. "You losers got any potion or what?"

"Uh..." Lloyd looked back at us again.

"Fresh out," said Zelos.

"Can't say I do," agreed Raine.

"Then get outta my face," decreed the gnomelette.

"...Uh... okay," Lloyd agreed. "You don't mind if we..." He gestured toward the continuing path.

"I ain't stoppin ya," said the gnomelette.

It was some time before anyone spoke.

"Is it just me," said Genis, "Or did he kinda sound like Edie?"

"Ex _cuse_ me?"

"...He did, a little," admitted Sheena. "Sorry."

I crossed my arms. "I don't sound like that."

"You do, a little bit," Raine said, smiling thinly at me. "Such forceful personalities."

"I don't think he sounded like you," volunteered Colette. I smiled gratefully. "He had kind of an accent, didn't he?"

I pouted.

"I don't sound like him," I protested, but without much heat.

Regal, for his part, looked disturbed. In his reality, crazed murderers probably didn't walk around gently ribbing one another. In _his_ reality, closed mines didn't spontaneously populate with horrible little goblin children who were 'on a journey to eat some potion'. 

Well, he'd learn.

"This door leads to the area where inhibitor ore is mined," Regal said, when we'd reached another set of stone doors - or were they stone? I was almost certain they were the same material as the seal doors had been in Sylvarant, and those had been some kind of magitechnology. Raine had called them _polycarbonate_ , but that couldn't be right. "I must warn you that the way is guarded by several traps as part of the original design."

"Like what?" asked Lloyd.

"There are several pressure plates which must be disabled from a second safe point," Regal replied, almost apologetic. "Historically the traps remained disabled, but upon closing the mine, I ordered..."

"Oh, that's fine," Lloyd waved a hand, "we can just send Edie."

Regal blinked around at me. "You would send a defenseless-" he paused, and reevaluated the recent past, "You would send a young woman alone?"

"Young?" prompted Zelos, because the setup _was_ pretty obvious. 

"Yeah, let's send Zelos," I agreed.

"Yeah, let's send Zelos," echoed Genis.

"Well hang on," Zelos began.

"It's a skill of Edie's," Raine said, sighing. "Just point out where to go and what to do."

Regal opened the security door. This one needed a fingerprint and a typed password, rather than a voice command or retina scan. I wondered: had Vharley had foreseen such exotic possibilities as there being _more than one lock_ ? Or was he was more of a _cross-that-bridge-when-I-come-to-it_ kind of guy? Because if he _had_ gone through with his plan, he'd have just been stuck _here_ instead. 

I found that reassuring; evil people were always easier to deal with if they were also stupid.

The door opened onto a platform. One end extended into a narrow stone path that followed a half-dozen hairpin turns towards the canyon below, and the other abutted the closed cage of a freight elevator. The stone path didn't have any kind of hand-holds and was barely wide enough for one person - but the elevator was powered down. There was also something on the landing below, gyrating slowly in the low light - something pale and flat.

"The hell is that?" I asked, peering down.

"Ah. That would be the Naploosa Bacura," Regal said. "I... should have known it would still be functional."

"A _Bacura?_ " repeated Raine, in a tone of stunned admiration. "Professor Naploosa's defensive construct? Here?"

"Ah, yes," Regal said, as if it were an admission. "There were two others when the mine opened, but I'm afraid they were destroyed. The remaining one is... ah, very hostile."

"How were they destroyed?" I asked, glancing up at him.

"One was destroyed during the demolition of a shaft," Regal replied, "the second was destroyed purposefully because it was obstructing a vital pathway. Attempts were made to disable the third, but I'm afraid they were unsuccessful."

"You said we could avoid the traps," Genis accused.

"There was a corresponding tablet which allowed us to _temporarily_ disable or command the Bacura," Regal said, and had the decency to sound embarrassed when he followed it up with, "but I had it destroyed."

"How do I get rid of the other traps?" I asked.

"You don't understand," Regal said, "as long as the Bacura is patrolling this area, it would be fatal to-"

"Come on, man, just answer her," said Zelos.

"The stone console by the far left wall," Regal said, pointing with his good hand - although, when you were wearing handcuffs, the other one tended to come along for the ride. "It isn't difficult to operate. But the Bacura-"

I squinted into the dark. 

There weren't as many working lights this far in, but I could make out the console, and that was a start. It was a huge cavern, some two-hundred feet from floor to ceiling, and on the raised platform we were only twenty feet from the ground. If I could find something big and heavy and preferably not nailed down...

I pointed. "What's that?"

"...Ah, that would be a compact excavator."

I was getting better at this. It took me two jumps, one midair, to reach the console. There was a slab of darker stone inset against the smooth grey of the larger pedestal, but no other buttons, switches, or obviously interactive parts. The inset square was vaguely reminiscent of an Oracle stone, and so I placed my hand palm-down, fingers splayed. The surface was warm to the touch, and after a moment there was a deep, affirmative kind of tone and the low rumble of things locking into place.

The Naploosa Bacura, hovering at a midpoint in the stone antechamber, was beginning to slowly wheel in my direction.

I teleported to the body of the compact excavator, wrapped both arms around one steel support, and pulled.

I reappeared at the apex of the cavern, right arm suddenly screaming in protest, and dropped the excavator; there was a huge, splintering crash, the screech of metal, and then silence. A split-second glimpse revealed the scattered remains of the Bacura, now a thousand shards of white against the dusky red of its surroundings - and that, at least, was that.

I came back to ground-level at a clumsy, skidding roll, momentum driving me parallel to the stone but too fast for comfort. I braced myself on my good arm, tumbled, and landed on my back, wind knocked out of me. 

"Ow," I groaned.

"Are you all right?" asked Raine, with only mild concern.

I turned my head to watch the others file down the narrow switchback ramps, Raine leading the charge. No one was suddenly gored by falling spikes or pitted with arrows, so presumably the traps had been successfully disengaged, and Regal didn't look as if he was expecting anything. I didn't bother getting up, and there was too much shrapnel around me to consider rolling over.

"I think I pulled a muscle," I complained, left hand clamped over the mass of pain that was my right shoulder, "Several muscles."

Raine moved towards me, kicking shards of stone out of her path, and knelt down. 

"Hm. Yes," she said, staff hovering a few inches above my arm, "You tore your teres minor _and_ teres major muscles, and severely strained the tendon. You're lucky it's not worse," she went on, green light gathering in pools and droplets as she spoke, "What were you thinking? That machine had to weigh at least a half tonne."

"I thought -" I started. I didn't want to say _I got excited about being helpful_ , because I would never live it down. "I miscalculated," I admitted instead. "Oooow."

"You'll be fine," Raine sighed, "but try to be more careful. My mana reserves _are_ limited, and you're still injured from yesterday."

I nodded meekly.

_-and in the fires of Hell shall you sing praise for me-_

"What?"

"What?" echoed Raine.

I sat up. "You didn't hear that?"

"No," said Raine, "Did you hit your head as well?"

"Nah," I continued, scrambling to my feet. "You seriously don't hear that? It's the same as in the Forest."

"Edie, here," Lloyd said, waving me over. "Look."

In the wreckage of the Bacura and excavator, partially obscured by dust and twisted metal, was a chakram.

I'd have called it a haunted pinwheel, if not for the fact that Colette was holding a second one and frowning down at it. If the Bacura had been baked, like a piece of pottery, then this thing had been _in_ it - a spiral of vicious magenta crystal, webbed in some green membranous material, and at the center, wreathed in bone, a rolling red eye. It had a viscerally repulsive quality, a stench of sickness - and it was _whispering_.

 _Wield me,_ it was saying, _and I will be as your own hand, a bone blade beneath which your enemies-_

"A Devil's Arm," I said, recollection overtaking sense. " _That's_ what the voices were in the forest! Another one of these - things!"

In the game, they were an entirely optional side-quest - a really, really annoying one, because if you went to the wrong place at the wrong time you locked yourself out of benefiting from it in any way. It was also practically post-game. I was no good at remembering names, but I remembered the adolescent rage of an eleven-year-old finally resorting to GameFAQs only to discover that hours in the Altamira Casino - and it really had been hours, because I had no luck and relied on save-scumming - were all for naught. I had never managed to finish it. The only aspect that had stuck was poor Presea, tormented by the voices of the weapons, alone in her torment. Well, she wasn't alone anymore, because I could hear them, too.

"You know what it is?" asked Lloyd, bemused.

I sighed. "It's like a cursed weapon," I said, not bothering to backtrack, "It's evil and gross. There must be one in the forest," I guessed, "because it has the same 'voice' as whatever Presea and I were hearing."

"I don't hear anything," volunteered Genis.

"Yeah, well," I said, and then couldn't think of anything to add.

"What is it saying?" asked Raine, curious.

"Evil stuff," I said, waving a hand. "Like, 'I will cut down your enemies and feast on blood' or whatever. It's not _good_ stuff."

"Interesting," she replied, picking up the one at my feet. 

"Don't _hold_ it!"

"Did you know anything about this?" Raine asked Regal, ignoring me.

"...I cannot be certain," he said, "but we did have some employees installed in this area who complained of auditory hallucinations. Perhaps this was the source?"

"Yeah, but why Edie and Presea?" asked Genis.

"I'd rather not think about it," I said earnestly, "Can you guys _please_ put those down? Chuck them into a corner or something?"

"But..." Raine's eyes were a little glassy as she stared down at the chakram. I pinched her hard on the elbow - and she snapped out of it. "What was that for?"

"You came over all weird," I said, unsure if it was actually some effect of the Devil's Arm or just Raine's natural curiosity, "Look, can we go get the inhibitor ore? These things are skeeving me out." I tried to say it as _meaningfully_ as possible, in the hopes that Raine would actually listen. She did; I stood anxiously to one side as she took both chakrams and wedged them in a far corner behind a disused wheelbarrow. Once they were out of sight, I felt a little better. "Thank you."

"Well," said Sheena, after a moment, "that was exciting."

"The... node where inhibitor ore is mined and processed is very close now," Regal said. "There should still be some usable material remaining; there were several pending orders at time of..." he trailed off awkwardly. "There should be material remaining."

"Oh. Right!" Lloyd grinned. "Let's hurry up!"

The area in question was a fifteen-minute walk from the large antechamber, down a narrower passageway and into another huge cavern still in the apparent process of being excavated. A subterranean waterfall glittered on the easternmost wall, thundering down the sheer stone face and into a black chasm bordered by a flimsy rope barrier. The western side of the cavern was a mess of boxes and unfamiliar machinery.

I nudged aside an upturned hand cart; Regal sure had closed down the mine in a hurry.

"Any inhibitor ore would be in those crates," he informed us. He didn't seem comfortable down here - it probably didn't bring up happy memories. 

"Let's look," Lloyd decided. "It shouldn't be really shiny, but it's really heavy. Come on."

We searched. 

Some of the boxes were empty; some were full of scrap metal that I recognized as busted drillbits and toothless old saws, and some were full of unprocessed or unsorted stone. Yet more were stuffed with packing material, unused chisels, blades and bolts, and any number of odds and ends I didn't recognize. But with seven of us searching - Regal _had_ just lost a finger - we found it soon enough.

"Ha," Genis said, waving the ingot at Lloyd, "I win."

"It's not a race," Raine sighed.

"Is that it?" asked Sheena, squinting. "It looks kind of like... I dunno, I thought it would look more like gold."

"It's not really that shiny unless you polish it a lot," Lloyd said, turning the ingot over. "We should take extra, to give to my dad. He'll have to have gone through a lot of his stock."

"Hold up," I said, "Not that I think it's a bad idea, but Exspheres can be removed once there's a Key Crest placed on it, right?" Lloyd nodded, clearly not following. "So anyone administering to them only really needs a few, because they could just remove them after the Exsphere is off, right?"

Lloyd frowned. "Oh. Yeah, that makes sense."

"Neil said he had written to your father," Raine recalled, "And I'm certain Dirk would have reached the same conclusion. I don't think that any of the refugees would benefit from keeping their Exspheres, at any rate. I had the sense they were still... unfinished," she concluded, more soberly. "When we return to Sylvarant, we should make sure that any remaining Exspheres are disposed of."

"It'd still be a good idea to take any spare ore with us," Sheena suggested, "That way we could be sure Altessa or Dirk have some."

"...Return to Sylvarant?" Regal echoed, a few steps behind.

"Oh, yeah," Zelos grinned, waving a hand towards the rest of us. "These guys are the Chosen's party from the declining world. Don't worry about it."

"You don't have to say it like that," Sheena scolded. 

"We can explain later," I said, "It's not _that_ complicated."

"What," Zelos said, turning to look at me, "You still wanna take this guy with us?"

I shrugged. "What'll they do with him if we leave him here? Anyway, he helped us out."

Zelos paused. "I was about to say, 'but he's a criminal', and then I remembered who I was talking to."

"I'm not a criminal," I whined, "I've never done a crime. You can't prove it."

"Are we taking the ore or not?" Genis asked, rolling his eyes.

"Do you mind?" Raine asked Regal, who was bizarrely calm, given the situation.

"...I do not."

"Great," Lloyd grinned, "Then let's go! Presea's waiting!"

"What about the guards and stuff?" Sheena asked, despairing. 

"All _we_ gotta do is get away from here, right?" Lloyd shrugged. "We could fly the Rheairds right up the tunnel!"

I hadn't even thought of that.

"It _is_ wide enough," Raine allowed, looking thoughtful. "And we would be moving too quickly for any kind of response from the ship."

"What if they're waiting at the top?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

"The Rheairds produce _some_ shielding," Raine pointed out, "I doubt they would be able to stop us."

"...Well, it's definitely exciting," said Sheena.

"Hang on," Zelos said, jerking a thumb towards Regal. "Who's Chuckles here flying with?"

Raine gave him a gimlet stare. "I'll give you one guess."

* * *

When we reemerged from the mine, neither Vharley nor the Bishop had moved.

"We can't just leave them down here," said Colette.

"I mean, we definitely can," said Zelos.

"We could put them on a platform and send it up?" suggested Sheena. "And we'll just fly past."

"Hang on, what about this dude?" I prodded Vharley with my foot. "He's not someone we want out and about running around."

There was an uncomfortable pause. A death in the heat of battle was one thing, but an execution in cold blood? That was a very, very different proposition. The others had no reason to think of Vharley as more than a common criminal, and it wasn't as if I could explain it to them. The others didn't kill people if they could help it, and it wouldn't look good if I was the only person pushing for it _now_. I scowled. There wasn't a clean solution.

"...You could leave him here, and send the Bishop up," Raine said, after a moment. "Leave it to him to decide."

I winced. 

"That's pretty..." I trailed off. 

"If I may speak?" I turned. Regal looked very, very grave. "Vharley has hurt a great deal of people. He is not a man who should be allowed to go free. But," he amended, "I also believe he should be brought to justice by the correct authorities."

I glanced around at the crowd of extremely wanted people.

"He's working _with_ the authorities," Zelos pointed out. "C'mon, I have a better idea. You," he said, jostling the Bishop, who was awake but had opted for silence rather than draw attention to himself, "If we untie you, and send you up, you go ahead and tell those guys up there that this fella," he toed Vharley's prone body, "went _nuts_ and attacked you and these knights." He smiled, genteel. "You can tell them you barely escaped with your life. You have no idea where your prisoner went," he added, as an afterthought.

"Y-yes, yes," agreed the Bishop, quaking with gratitude, "I never wished for this violence, and I have never liked Vharley-"

"All right, great," Zelos said, cheerful. "Make sure you don't forget it, yeah?"

The Bishop nodded.

"You're almost as bad as Raine," muttered Genis.

We had no way of ensuring that the Bishop would keep his word, but we kept ours. Zelos undid his bindings, and we piled him and Vharley - and the other Knights, some of whom were unconscious, rather than dead - onto the elevator platform. Regal made certain that the door to the was sealed behind us, and then Raine started the platform on its slow climb to the surface. Then it was just a matter of mounting up on our Rheairds and zooming off to freedom.

"I have suddenly realized I hate this idea," I said, watching Lloyd prep for takeoff.

"Why?" Zelos asked, then continued rhetorically, "Because it's an airborne vehicle moving at hundreds of miles per hour and this is still a tunnel with a stone ceiling? Can't imagine why that'd make you nervous."

"You'll be fine," Raine said, "Just follow close behind us, all right?"

We couldn't bring out all the Rheairds at once, but we didn't want our exits to be too far apart, so it was a process of mounting up and traveling a little up the passage until we formed a nice little queue. I was between Genis, Sheena and Colette, and had the Rheaird relied at all on my posture or fidgeting, I'd have been a smear on the ceiling. I still felt sick, and would likely continue to feel sick until we were out under blue sky.

"Ready?" Lloyd called back. Affirmatives rippled up the line, and up the tunnel I could see the flare of Lloyd's engines.

We tore out of the mine, narrowly passing the still-moving elevator platform and probably scaring the daylights out of the Bishop, and then we were exploding out into the open air. Lloyd careened around, diving skyward, and we followed him, clearing the mine and then the town and then the mountainside and falling into formation. It all happened in under a minute; one moment we were racing up the tunnel and the next we were gliding softly over the water.

I switched the Rheaird over into autopilot and dropped my head on my arms.

"I hated that," I announced.

"They spotted us as we left," Raine said, sounding unsurprised. "People will know where we are."

"I mean, don't they already?" asked Lloyd. "Because of the tracking thing?"

"Right," Raine sighed. "Let's find somewhere to land and recharge."

* * *

We set down on a grassy stretch of nowhere, north of the mountain range and far from anything that could be considered 'civilized'. Late afternoon was fading into twilight, and we would have to wait until morning to set out for Altessa's. 

"So," said Zelos, once we'd all had a chance to put our stuff down and start assembling camp, "Anyone wanna tell me why we're dragging along this guy?"

Regal hovered awkwardly - it wasn't as if he knew our process for setting up, or as if anyone had given him orders. He was a big guy, even taller than Kratos had been, but he looked like he was trying to take up as little space as possible. 

"I don't know, Edie," said Raine, giving me a look that suggested I would have to dig myself out of this one alone, "Why _are_ we?"

I had a feeling that failing to mention Regal to her had been a very slight mistake.

Everyone looked at me - they'd had no reason before, but now Raine had reminded them that, yes, it had been me to insist taking Regal along.

I sighed. 

"Because," I said, not quite believing my own ears, "he needs to meet Presea."

"What?" asked Genis, bewildered, "Why?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. 

"Lloyd, you remember what Kvar said about your mom?"

"...Huh?" Lloyd blinked at me. He looked confused and vaguely hurt. 

"You remember Clara, at least?" I asked, pivoting away hurriedly, "She was turned into a monster because of her Exsphere? Regal's _not_ a murderer, Vharley turned his girlfriend into one of the Exsphere creatures and sent her after him. He fought back in self-defense. Same as your dad," I gestured at Lloyd, looking in the general direction of the sky. "Same as you guys and Marble. Presea is that girl's sister. _That's_ why."

"...How can you know that?" asked Zelos.

"So you guys know how that girl at Altessa's house looks like me?"

 _Everyone_ was paying rapt attention _now_. 

"She's modeled after Martel. I think I might be, too. And sometimes," I said, as vaguely as possible, "I remember things that I can't possibly know. Like, for example," I continued, feeling nauseous, "That Mithos the Hero and Yggdrasill are the same person. Or," I fished around in the very depths of my recollection for some truth, _something_ that wasn't achingly personal, "That the Devil's Arms are super evil."

"...You're joking," suggested Zelos.

"Mithos?" echoed Regal, who was slightly hampered by lack of context.

"...That's why you spoke to me back at Balacruf, isn't it," Sheena said, like someone coming out of a dream. "You already knew about the two worlds!"

I nodded miserably.

"What do you mean, 'modeled after Martel'?" asked Lloyd.

I shrugged. "I have no idea. Clone? Android? I don't remember anything before about a year ago. I woke up at the House of Salvation north of Triet and went looking for Colette."

There was a moment's pause.

"I _knew_ you weren't really a researcher," blurted Genis.

"Hold on," said Zelos, waving both hands in a hopeless plea for sanity, "We're supposed to believe that you're, one, a clone of _the Goddess Martel_ , or something, and two, you're - what, psychic? Clairvoyant? Help me out here."

I couldn't help it.

I burst into tears.

"Whoa," Zelos began, "Uh-"

"I'm sorry," I said, sinking into a crouch and hugging my knees. "I'm really, really sorry, I just couldn't leave Regal behind, because he's a good guy, and I couldn't think of an excuse and I just -" I inhaled, aware in a distant sort of way that I was beginning to hyperventilate, "I don't know what I was thinking, I just couldn't think of an excuse, I just wanted to tell the truth for once and-"

"Edie, breathe," Raine ordered, her hand warm on my back. "Breathe. In, out."

"S-sorry."

"I knew," Raine told the rest of the group, still rubbing my shoulder. "Edie told me after the Tower of Salvation. I've known since then."

"...Um," Colette's voice drifted into the ensuing silence, "I did, too."

I looked up.

"What?" asked Lloyd, bewildered. "How?"

"Edie talked to me a bit while I was..." she gestured to indicate 'creepy and empty', "And I kind of heard Professor Raine and Edie talking about it, too. And I think," she paused, as if for thought, "when I woke up in the Forest, I was in Edie's dream for a while, and I kind of understood that we were in a different place." She glanced at me, and blushed. "Sorry."

My panic dissolved into hysterical giggles.

"You don't," I hiccuped, "have to say sorry for that."

"That's how you knew what to say to the Renegades," Sheena guessed. "Actually, it's kind of obvious, now that I look back."

"Is that why you don't know anything?" Genis asked. "I mean, you were always asking really stupid questions."

I laughed - a laugh that turned into a cough. "Yes, that's why I didn't know anything."

"Okay, why do I feel like you're all taking this _way_ too in stride?" demanded Zelos. 

"I mean," Lloyd began, "we already found out about the two worlds, and the Journey of Regeneration, and Mithos, and stuff."

I stared at him in amazement.

"In the grand scheme of things," Raine said, amused, "Edie's situation is almost trivial."

Lloyd slapped a fist into his palm, startling nearly everyone. "You asked me to make that lightning charm for Corrine before we ever went to Tethe'alla! You knew we'd have to fight Volt!"

" _And_ you kept asking all those questions about the Rheairds being safe," Genis recalled.

I covered my face with both hands.

"This is really not how I expected to tell you guys," I said, voice slightly muffled.

"I'm sorry," offered Raine, "I didn't expect..."

"So," Zelos said, trying to be reasonable, "You... don't remember anything before a year ago? How can you read and stuff?"

"I remember," I drummed my fingers on my knee, looking for the right words. "I remember a past life. It wasn't in this world, I don't think. Um. I know all of this is very slightly insane and I understand if you guys don't..." I swallowed. "If you guys don't feel comfortable with me around anymore. I realize that - it'd be unfair to ask you to keep me along after I lied to you. But - but Regal is supposed to be with you. So." I shrugged. "Yeah."

The moment stretched.

"Don't be an idiot," Sheena said. "I lied to everyone, too, _and_ I tried to kill Colette. You never did anything but help. Even right now," she gestured, "you told us because you were trying to help a complete stranger!"

"Yeah," agreed Genis, "You've always been suspicious, but you've always looked out for us, too."

"You've saved my life a bunch of times," volunteered Lloyd. "And you can't help it if you're a clone or whatever."

"You must have been really scared," said Colette, "and you were all alone, too. I can't imagine what that must have been like."

Raine made a noise. "I should have known they'd be too soft-hearted to hold it against you."

"Am I the only one not kosher with all this?" asked Zelos, "I mean, apart from him," he added, gesturing at Regal. "I'm not saying you're lying, I just... What - where'd you come from? How do you know this stuff? I feel like everyone's being way too relaxed about the 'and sometimes I remember the future' thing."

"Um," Colette said, hand half-raised, "When we were in Sylvarant, visiting the seals, I would 'remember' things about them, even though I'd never been there. And sometimes I remember things that I think the other Chosens must have known, or that Martel did. Before I thought it was because of the Cruxis Crystal," she admitted, glancing down, "But maybe Edie's connected to Martel, too."

"Is that why you two look alike?" asked Sheena, thoughtful. "I _said_ so, didn't I? I said!"

"I don't know where I came from," I said, addressing Zelos' original question, "I just kind of woke up, and had scratches everywhere and stuff. They said they found me in the desert," I admitted. "I had some of my stuff with me. I think I must have done something or been somewhere before that, but I have no idea. If I have something to do with Cruxis..." I trailed off. "I don't know. I really have no idea."

"All right, all right," Zelos relented, hands up in surrender, "I give in. Everyone here is weird!"

"While we're on the subject," Raine said, suddenly, "I think our guest deserves an explanation."

"Where do you even begin?" Sheena asked, face screwed up in exasperation. "Mithos?"

A noise rumbled sideways across the campsite.

"Maybe," Raine suggested, Lloyd bright red with embarrassment, "We could have the discussion over dinner. I was thinking-"

"I'll cook," Sheena volunteered hurriedly, "Why don't you guys settle in? This could take a while."

* * *

"...They were attempting to impersonate the Chosen?"

"Yeah, they got the Book of Regeneration from Dorr and everything!" Lloyd explained. 

"But Edie retrieved it."

"Funny story," I said, "I ran into the fake-Chosen at the marketplace, right?"

* * *

"And then Sheena was like 'stop right there!'" 

"I do _not_ sound like that," Sheena protested.

"And it looked like we were gonna have to fight," Lloyd went on, "but Edie said they should talk."

* * *

"And then we were like, 'why can Sheena go but not Raine and Edie?' and then Sheena got all embarrassed for some reason, and-"

"You don't have to tell that part," Raine sighed.

* * *

"And then Lloyd and Genis were sick all night from faire food," Sheena said, smug.

"Ugh, don't remind me," begged Lloyd.

"Hey, do you remember the puppet show?" Genis asked, suddenly grinning.

"We _don't need to talk about that_ ," Raine said hurriedly.

* * *

"And Sheena got the pact and then we came here and then Edie-"

"I'm sure he gets the picture," interrupted Raine. "I was surprised when Edie insisted we bring you along," she admitted to Regal, "I confess I might have been too glib," she said to me, apologetic. "But it's nice to be able to speak about things in the open."

"I honestly thought we'd reached peak weirdness," complained Zelos, "but I guess I was wrong."

" _You_ basically just met us," Genis accused, "You don't get to talk."

"I'm glad we were able to get to here," Colette said. "Looking back at everything, it really seems like we've done a lot!"

"We _have_ done a lot," laughed Lloyd. "And we've still got loads to do, remember!"

"Ugh, don't remind me," said Sheena.

"And the girl you're trying to save," Regal said, speaking for the first time since the saga had wrapped up, "She's... She is Alicia's sister?"

I nodded. "It's complicated, but - yeah."

"Hm," Regal lapsed into silence again, troubled gaze resting on the roaring fire.

"Well," said Zelos, clapping his hands together. "Anyone for dessert?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LAUGHS NERVOUSLY the joke is that actually zelos is my self-insert and he cant believe this bullshit  
> anyway today's edie soundtrack song is 'the impression that i get' by the mighty mighty bosstones  
> *edit - have added some exposition on the devil's arms!


	20. Ozette, Meltokio

We set a watch that night, but nothing very exciting happened, unless you counted Raine grumbling over her lesson plans.

The morning came, misty, cold and damp, dew pearled on every surface and fracturing the first golden rays into fields of glittering iridescence. I was up early, refreshed and finally free of secrets, and I stoked the fire and brought water to a boil. Regal was awake, and Sheena, who had taken the last watch, but neither moved to join me. Regal had been brooding since dinner last night, and sleep had not made him any more gregarious. Sheena was working on something small and fiddly, Corrine perched on her thigh.

I made myself a cup of strong tea and watched the sunrise, feeling very peaceful.

"You look happier," Raine observed, when she joined me. "That's good."

"I don't think I realized how much it was weighing on me until..." I waved a hand. "I feel so much better. It's like I can breathe again."

"I wonder, are tears always your first strategy for difficult conversations?" she said, but with some humor.

I laughed. "Less so nowadays, but you've kind of seen me at my worst."

Raine sobered a little. "In the interest of honesty... You're aware that Genis and I are half-elves?"

I hesitated. She wasn't whispering, but she wasn't yelling about it, either - did she not care if the others overheard? I nodded. "In the interest of honesty," I echoed her, "I think I'd have known even if I didn't have these memories."

Raine sighed. "Yes, probably. I'm surprised that Kratos never brought it up - but I suppose it wouldn't have mattered," she said wryly. "I'm very glad we met you when we did. It's always been very hard for Genis to reconcile his idea of the Desians with the truth of our race. I think... I did him a disservice, treating our heritage the way I did. I'm glad he was able to see you," she repeated, "unashamed of who you are. It's done him good."

"It's nothing as noble as that. I told you, didn't I? It's all humans where I come from. I didn't grow up here," I said, trying to explain why the praise made me uncomfortable, "All I've done is act like myself."

Raine was quiet for a moment. "Is it better? A world of only one race?"

I gave a desperate little laugh. "Raine, it's so much worse. Or maybe it's just bigger, so there's more bad that can happen?" I ran a hand through my hair. "My country is built on slavery. Slavery and thieving colonists. White people - white people like  _ me _ , Raine - invaded and drove out and slaughtered the native people and brought black slaves to work their land. People - white people - like to pretend it's all fixed up nowadays, but - it's not. It's still awful."

Raine blinked at me. "What do you mean, white? Black?"

"Skin color," I indicated my own hand. "It's arbitrary and made up but there you  _ fucking _ go."

"All humans," Raine mused, "And still."

"And still," I agreed. "Being a woman is hard, too, but - it's really not the same. White women especially are - statistically - complicit in some of the worst parts of our history. You can't praise me for being brave, Raine."

"Then I won't," she agreed gamely. I smiled. "On a lighter note," she went on, patting my forearm, "I think, now that the truth has come out, it would benefit you to join the children in their lessons."

"Wh - I'm not an idiot, Raine. I  _ did _ go to school. Higher education, even."

"Not all their lessons," Raine said, amused, "but at least for History. You may be educated, but you weren't educated  _ here _ . It won't just be you; Zelos and Sheena have a great deal to learn about Sylvaranti history, and us about Tethe'alla. It does us no favors to be ignorant of one another's history. Your general knowledge is worryingly spotty, and I think it would be good for you. You understand my reasoning," she frowned at me.

"Well, yes," I allowed, "but I also know that a huge chunk of rote history here's going to be bunk made up by Mithos."

"But it would still benefit you to hear, even the fabrications," Raine argued. "What we teach our children and tell ourselves is surely as revealing as the truth. And you would offer the rest of us a unique perspective."

"All right, all right," I sighed, "but I'm not doing homework."

Raine frowned. "Homework isn't just there to keep you busy. It's a tool for understanding."

"No, I'm firm on this one," I said, "I'll show up for lessons but I draw the line at homework."

"...Fine," Raine said, childishly, "But you had better pay  _ attention _ ."

"Yes, ma'am," I agreed. Then I laughed. "It's been a while since our magic lessons, hasn't it?"

"Yes, it has been," Raine said. "I notice you've been using light and dark aspected magic - did Genis teach you that?"

I shrugged. "It comes more easily than the other stuff. I'm pretty sure that my natural talents are kinds of light and dark magic. The refraction of light, for invisibility, and then..." I frowned. "I don't actually have a good explanation for the teleportation thing."

"I might," Raine said, thoughtful. "If you - or at least, your soul - is from another world, then it may be you are less firmly...  _ affixed _ , as it were, to the material plane. You're similar to a monster, in that way -" she smiled at the look on my face, "-I mean to say, your relationship with reality is different by necessity. It's been posited that monsters manifest in this world in a way similar to Summon Spirits - that is, that there is also an astral plane, or immaterial world, from which they leech into ours."

I squinted at her. "Leech?"

"It's only a theory," she cautioned, "but I think there's good reason to believe it. I've told you about Niflheim?" 

"It's, like, demon world, right?"

She chuckled. "Yes, like 'demon world'. In the Blood Edda - it's not all that grim, don't make that face - in the Blood Edda, in the story of Niflheim, it's implied that Niflheim is only a 'country' or even 'castle' or 'keep' in this other realm from which all monsters originate. There's also mention of people being able to traverse the 'world of demons' without use of a door - so it may be that the door in question was constructed, rather than naturally occurring."

"That sounds like a lotta conjecture from not much," I admitted. "I mean, if monsters - euchariphages, or whatever - had their own realm, why would they want to come here?"

"Euchariphages aren't just attracted to mana," Raine pointed out. "They're attracted to the mana generated by sapient creatures, or by magic - which I'll note is a direct result of the interaction of mana with sapience. Not just the magic produced by spellcasters, but the slight alteration of natural mana caused by any and all cognition. There's plenty of evidence of monsters  _ and _ Summon Spirits being empowered by belief or worship."

"But... surely that's just... psychological," I said. "Or else Martel really  _ would _ be a goddess."

I paused. Raine smiled ruefully.

"Isn't she, in any way that would matter? Her very existence has reshaped the world in a very real way, and a great deal has been done in her name. A great deal  _ continues _ to be done in her name," Raine said. "Her influence is felt even today, and she's at the nexus of an incredible confluence of power, magical and otherwise. Is that not a kind of godhood?"

"...Okay, fair point," I agreed, "but that's still psychology, not magic."

"But it is," Raine argued. "Even humans have a passive influence over natural mana, although quite limited. If you accept that magic is itself a distortion of reality, then you must accept that concentrated belief functions in the same way."

I raised my eyebrows. "You've got me there, I guess. Like I said," I continued, "We don't have mana where I'm from, and we don't have magic. That said," I frowned, "We sure are pretty obsessed with the idea of it. And I guess that's a kind of magic. We even call some kinds of irrational behavior 'magical thinking', because they're predicated on superstition or just plain misunderstanding. Still, we don't have fireballs. Or Summon Spirits."

"Do you have deities?"

"Oh, sure," I said, "but - I don't know why I'm arguing. I essentially agree with you. I just have to get used to the idea of there being... hard evidence, you know? Of being able to quantify 'willpower' or 'want' or 'belief'."

Raine nodded. "I suppose it must be an adjustment. I'm not sure I  _ could _ fathom a world without mana."

"Nice to see you two are starting the day with light conversation," complained Zelos, reaching past me for the kettle. "Some people just talk about the weather."

"Oh," I blinked over at him, a thought trying to untangle itself from the knot of metaphysical conjecture. "I wanted to say sorry for yesterday."

Zelos looked from me to Raine, as if unsure who I was addressing. 

"Sorry for what?" he asked, at last. 

"For not giving any warning on the platform. Lift... thing," I waved a hand. "I should have said something. I didn't mean to freak you out, or yelled at you."

Zelos stared at me for a moment, kettle in one hand and steaming cup in the other, and then shook his head. "Don't worry about it." He put the kettle down, took a cautious sip of coffee, and leaned over to scavenge the remains of last night's meal. I watched him, vaguely concerned; out of everyone, his reaction to my 'reveal' had been the most vocal and the most incredulous. He'd eased into it, over the evening, but his playful interjections had felt more like script readings than genuine banter. "I'm fine, y'know."

I gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

He shrugged. "So what's the plan for today?"

Raine exhaled. "We'll return to Altessa and see if he's changed his mind."

"And if he hasn't?" prompted Zelos.

"Then we'll figure out something else," Raine said. "I'd like to get Presea out of that situation as soon as possible."

Zelos nodded. "And big blue over there?" I followed the line of his thumb to where Regal sat. He kept apart from the group, and had the look of a man meditating with his eyes open; he was probably reflecting on his sins or something equally morose, and gave no sign of interest in our conversation or even in breakfast. "I know you said we've gotta take him along, but I gotta say, he doesn't look thrilled about it."

I looked skyward, trying to conjure up the specifics.

"He needs to meet Presea, that's for sure," I said, "And then I think later they both need to go to Altamira. I think there's some resource there we need?" I frowned. "And he's really strong, too. You guys - he's supposed to travel with you."

"But you're not?" Zelos asked, curious. "You kind of made it out that way."

I shook my head. "I don't think I'm supposed to be here. But," I conceded, "I  _ am _ here, and if no one has a problem with it, I do want to come with you. There's stuff I want to find out, too."

"You don't have to keep justifying yourself," Raine said, squeezing my forearm. 

"You're gonna make me cry again," I accused. "And everyone's gonna feel really awkward about it."

It was a slow morning, insofar as our mornings went. Raine didn't harangue the boys into wakefulness, and breakfast was leisurely, and full of meaningless conversation. Raine wanted to go over her lesson plans for me; Genis and Lloyd were upset to hear that Zelos would be tutoring them in math, and Sheena, at last abandoning her work, joined us to complain about her time at the Imperial Academy. Colette was last to rise, sitting stiffly beside Sheena as the discussion rolled on.

Regal only stirred when it came time to take off.

"You can ride with me," I offered, because Zelos had been grumbling about playing chauffeur again. "It's no trouble."

Regal reacted - unsurprisingly - in the way one might should an unstable stranger offer them a lift. It was a little embarrassing.

"I'm not sure that would be..."

"Don't worry about it," Zelos interjected, "Me and Duke Bryant are really starting to get along, y'know?"

"If you say so," I shrugged, unwilling to argue more than I already had.

Regal looked relieved, which only made the whole thing more embarrassing. I really needed to get better at reading people; at this rate, I was on track to make Lloyd look tactful and perceptive. 

* * *

Our return to Altessa's was surreal. Reaching Ozette that first time had been a trial, physically and emotionally, and I'd spent so much of it wrapped up in doubt and fear over the fates of my friends. Now, we could glide in on Rheairds, swift, untouchable and completely at our ease. Zelos had even lent me one of his novels - a surprisingly compelling mystery story set in Meltokio's distant past - but it was hard to concentrate, even with the reliable autopilot.

Sharing the truth with everyone had been important, but I felt very off-my-game.

I couldn't really blame myself for having one or two breakdowns - it seemed they were due, after keeping a relatively cool head for so long and under such circumstances. That being said, I didn't like being seen in such a vulnerable position. I'd had my share of irrational moments over our trip, but I saw myself and Raine as stabilizing forces - an impression I had hugely undermined in recent weeks.

Zelos had seen me lose my shit twice, very memorably. I'd made a similarly bad impression on Regal, who knew me only as some kind of violent soothsayer. 

I didn't think there was anything wrong with crying, I just preferred not to. 

I was anxious about seeing Tabatha again. Seeing her had been a visceral experience, and not one I was keen to repeat. 

But there were more important things than my reputation, and there was no avoiding her.

We arrived outside Altessa's house a quarter before noon. 

Little had changed since our last visit, except that there was new laundry out to dry, and the weather was much more tolerable. Clouds drifted gently in a clear blue sky, casting pools of shadow on the pale stone below, and inside the little window a set of chimes rustled and rang, a hollow, pleasant noise. It was a friendly place, despite everything, and I found that it comforted me a little to be here.

"Does it feel familiar?" Raine asked, when she too had dismounted and stowed her Rheiard. I turned my head slightly, ear catching the last strain of musical tinkling, and gave her a lopsided smile.

"Kind of. I think it's just the nice weather."

"Easily pleased," she observed, but she linked her arm with mine and pulled me a little closer. 

"Hopefully Tabatha was able to talk him around," Raine sighed. "It's been nearly a month - with any luck..."

I blinked. "Hey, wait, did we miss Lloyd's birthday?"

Raine paused.

"Did we?"

"We celebrated it in Sybak, Professor," Colette volunteered, cheerful. "Genis and I sang!"

"What's with you?" asked Lloyd, accusing. "It wasn't even that long ago! You never even got me a present!"

"You didn't give  _ me _ a present for my birthday," I recalled.

"Wh - I did!" Lloyd insisted.

"Huh. Did you?" I asked, genuinely curious. My memory was bad to begin with, and my first month in Sylvarant reduced to a kind of smear. I knew Colette had given me a shell necklace - an unfortunate early casualty of our journey. I hadn't even been wearing it at the time. Colette hadn't given me a hard time about it, or anything, but the reminder made me feel like a bit of an ass.

"I don't think we celebrated your birthday," Raine recalled. 

"And you shouldn't," I agreed wholeheartedly. "I'm against it for religious reasons."

"Come on, Presea's waiting for us," Genis prompted. "Anyway, Lloyd doesn't need presents, so don't worry about it."

"Hey!"

Offended or not, Lloyd was the one to lead the charge. He knocked, and we waited.

And waited.

Lloyd knocked again, harder this time. At last, when his patience had run out, he hammered on the door with his fists.

"I know he's in there!"

It wasn't much of a leap - there was the smell of something spicy-sweet wafting through the little circular window, and it was a good four hours on foot to Ozette. Altessa was in there - and he wasn't coming out. If Tabatha was in there, she was on orders to ignore us - not much we could do about that. Lloyd yelled in frustration, and went for his swords - but Raine and Zelos caught him by both arms, dragging him back. 

"Do you think he'll be likely to help us when we break his door down?" Raine snapped. 

"Chill out, bud," Zelos said, comfortingly. "We can figure this out. You made Colette's Crest, didn't you? It'll be fine."

"But he's in there, just ignoring-"

"I can go," I volunteered, crooking a thumb towards the circular window. "I need a chat with him, anyway."

Raine frowned at me. "Is that wise? You may only upset him more."

I crossed my arms. "If a guilty conscience isn't enough to move him, then I figure he deserves to be upset."

"Yeah," Lloyd agreed, scowling.

No one could argue much with that. I went to the window, squinted into the gloom, and rematerialized indoors. Tabatha, working at a broad stone hearth, was looking around at me in a muted parody of surprise. Altessa was either in his workshop down the ramp, or in his bedroom - either way, he hadn't noticed or expected me to try this tactic. Tabatha and I looked at one another for a moment.

"HELLO," she said. 

"Hi," I said, awkward. "Uh. Nice to see you again."

Tabatha's mouth turned up into a smile, although her eyes didn't change. "YES, IT IS. YOU WISH TO SEE THE MASTER. HE IS IN HIS WORKSHOP."

"You're not going to stop me?" I asked, bemused.

"I AM NOT," she said, simply. "COME THIS WAY."

Altessa, bald head glistening, was hunched over a broad work-table, his back to us. There was no indication that he'd heard mine and Tabatha's conversation, or even Lloyd's furious knocking - although he might have been pretending. Tabatha waved me down the ramp into the workshop proper, our feet silent on a floor of dirt and sawdust. She nodded to me, and I stepped forward.

"I need to talk to you."

Altessa grunted. "Tabatha, I -" he half-turned, and froze in horror.

"Hey," I said, with none of the warmth I had summoned for my doppelganger. "How's it going?"

" _ Out _ ," hissed Altessa, "I - leave, Tabatha-"

I folded my arms. "I'm not going anywhere, and I'm pretty sure you can't make me."

"Tabatha," Altessa turned to his assistant, accusing, "I told you-"

"I DID NOT LET HER IN, MASTER."

"Then how-"

"Magic," I said, twiddling my fingers. "What's your problem with me, anyway? I've never done anything to you. And I'm not an 'abomination'," I said, sourly. "Or a thing. Just for the record."

Altessa pressed a broad, scarred hand to his face. "I... you. I cannot bear to look at you. You - should never have existed."

I felt a surprising twinge of hurt at that. "That's rude."

He laughed bitterly, and slammed a hand back down on the table with surprising force. "It seems you resemble your creator after all. Rodyle was always..." The hand curled into a veiny fist, knuckles turning white. "He often made light of our horrors. Perhaps Tabatha resembles me, then, in some way."

My throat itched, bile rising. 

"I wouldn't know," I said. "I don't know who that is."

Altessa exhaled, leaning back in his low chair to look at me with beady eyes. "If only I could be so lucky. You're -" he squinted. "You aren't him, are you? Not some new vessel for that wretched creature?"

"I'm  _ Edie _ ," I protested, flushing. "So I am some kind of vessel. Did you work on me, too? Was I made at the same time as Tabatha?"

Altessa looked away. "Your... construction began at the same time, yes. But Tabatha was completed much earlier. Flesh requires more time than metal and plastic, you see. I always wondered what had become of you," he sighed. "When Tabatha was deemed a failure, I heard nothing of Rodyle. I always assumed the other vessels had been destroyed. And yet - here you are. Who...  _ who _ are you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'm me. ...Did Yggdrasill know about this project?"

Altessa turned wide eyes on me. "You know of him?"

"I know lots of stuff," I said, annoyed. He'd assumed I knew about Rodyle - about my creation - but was surprised I knew about Yggdrasill? Maybe my judgment of obscure and common knowledge really  _ was _ skewed. "Did he know about it? About me?"

Altessa nodded slowly. "I believe so. But - I was told the project had been terminated."

A thought was starting to grow at the back of my mind, but I couldn't yet vocalize it.

"This-" I sighed. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. I'm here because Presea needs your help, and you owe her."

"P- I will hear no more of that child," said Altessa miserably.

"Is this-" I exhaled, irritated. "I don't get it. You have the opportunity to make up for something you did, but you won't. Is it because you're afraid of Cruxis? Of Yggdrasill? Because I doubt he cares about what happens to some human girl. Or..." I frowned at him. "Is it  _ because _ you feel guilty? Like Presea is some eternal reminder of your sins? Because she's a real person, suffering."

"I am not - you assume too much," spat Altessa.

"That's it, isn't it," I pointed a finger at him. "You don't want to fix it because you think this is about you. You're punishing yourself. Well, guess what - the only person you're punishing is Presea, you-"

"PLEASE," Tabatha said, putting a cold hand on my arm. "THE MASTER IS KIND. HE SIMPLY-"

"No," groaned Altessa. "No, Tabatha. No, I'm not. She's right." He dropped his head into his hands, his elbows on his knees. He was the very picture of misery, shoulders shaking in either grief or anger. Was this really such a shock to him? Maybe, if Tabatha had indulged his isolation all these years, it was only natural that it would be a shock - the face of comfort spewing words of accusation. How long had he been holed up here, stewing in his own discontentment? "I am not kind."

It was hard not to feel sorry for him - but he was doing enough of that on his own.

"So help Presea."

"It is no easy thing," Altessa complained, "Inhibitor ore has been hard to come by since-"

"We have plenty," I said, arms folded. "Look, I can't physically  _ make _ you do this, but I can tell you that this is a really stupid way to live. You messed up, fine - everyone does. It's how people learn. But the past is past and Presea needs help  _ now _ ."

Altessa was silent for a long while.

"MASTER?" Tabatha prompted at last.

"Fine," he said, sounding very old and frail. "Fine. I will make it. Bring her here."

I raised an eyebrow. "Is that necessary?"

"It's more efficient to work on a Crest when I can see the Crystal itself," he replied, wiping a hand across his forehead. "I won't run, if that's what you're implying. I've said I will do it, and a dwarf does not make empty promises."

"'Lying is the first step on the path of thievery', right?" I quoted.

He blinked at me.

"Fine," I agreed. "We'll go get her. But if we come back and you're not here-"

"I will be here," Altessa interrupted, taking offense at the very idea.

I grinned at him - and, as a gesture of gratitude, left by the door.

"What happened?" Lloyd demanded, springing up from his seat on a crate and taking in my expression and posture. "What'd he say?"

"He'll help," I said, propping a hand on my hip. "He asked for us to bring Presea here, so he can work from reference. I don't think he'll run," I said, before Raine could bring up the possibility. "And even if he did, he wouldn't be able to run for long."

"Huh," remarked Genis. "You were kind of scary when you said that."

* * *

We didn't bother hiking back up to Ozette on foot - there was plenty of real-estate near the main gates for landing, provided you were willing to clip a tree or two. We could have landed one-by-one in Presea's ragged yard, but why bother, when Ozette was so quick to traverse on foot? And so it was by that series of events that we ended up running right into the Papal Knights.

Ozette was so dense with trees that we hadn't spotted them on our flyby - but they'd spotted us.

"Well, crap, they finally caught up," said Lloyd.

I noted, with reluctant admiration, that the Knights' gold-and-green color schema blended surprisingly well into the backdrop of muted foliage. It helped a great deal that Ozette seemed permanently overcast, and so their polished armor gave no more than the faintest glimmer in the low light. Any residents of the main thoroughfare had taken cover, and so it was impossible to hide. We fell into formation - excepting Regal, who was still new to this - as they approached.

Their leader - distinguished from the rest by a life-sized golden bird protruding from the forehead of his helmet - stepped forward, halberd at his side. Each of his men was as tall as Regal and twice as broad, the head of each halberd the size of a manhole cover. 

"Well, well. If it isn't Master Zelos," said the Knight in charge, obliging us with a mocking bow - but not daring to tip so far over that he couldn't keep his eyes on us. "I trust you are well."

"Peachy," grunted Zelos, turning slightly. "Crap, they've got us surrounded."

I glanced backwards - he was right. There had to be at least two dozen of them, clambering out from behind buildings. We'd given them plenty of time to get ready for us, and to their credit, they'd set themselves up well.

"Not for long," I said, because convention demanded that  _ someone _ say it.

I grabbed Raine and Genis, one arm around each waist, and deposited them on the nearest thatch roof - Genis slipped a little, but recovered, and Raine was casting even as her feet touched down. With our casters safely out of range, I joined the fight already in progress. Lloyd and Sheena had opened proceedings with vicious attacks in either direction, Colette and Zelos doing crowd control while Regal found his bearings. Once in motion, it was as if he had always been there.

It was refreshing to fight something that stopped moving when you hit it hard enough.

The battle was over in less than a minute. It was almost embarrassing.

"Is that all of them?" asked Sheena, a whirl of movement as she surveyed the battlefield.

"Yep," called Zelos. "What should we do with the ones who are just knocked out?"

"Leave them," said Raine, affect cold. "I'm sure the people of Ozette will see to them."

I grinned, whistling a nine-note motif. I could almost hear the banjo.

"What's that?" she asked, annoyed on principle. 

"Nothing."

"Well, they may not be smart," complained Genis, who had to be helped down off the roof, "but at least they're persistent."

"They're after me," Colette said, downcast. "Sorry, everyone."

"Don't be silly," said Zelos, soothing. "They're after all of us - I'm a traitor, Sheena's basically a traitor - I'm just saying! - and we've got Edie and now Regal. It's not just you."

"Yeah, don't be so self-centered," I joked, prompting both Raine and Sheena to advance on me. "I'm joking," I said, waving my hands. Maybe I'd gotten a little overconfident with Altessa. "I mean to say," I came forward, resting a hand on Colette's shoulder, "Even if it was a hassle, or if they were only after you, it'd still be worth it because you're our one-and-only Colette. Got it?"

Colette nodded, turning a little pink. "Ah, right. I'm sorry, Edie."

"Hi, sorry," I said, "I'm dad."

"All right, well, Edie's lost her mind," Sheena said, dragging me back by the collar. "What n-"

It happened in just a moment - Colette wobbled as I drew my hand back, and fell sideways, leg bending awkwardly beneath her. Her face was a mask of surprise, and neither of her arms moved to break her fall. I shook myself free, Lloyd already kneeling at Colette's side. Her face was damp and grey, and the pain must have been terrible because the sound of it tore out of her heaving chest, ragged and involuntary.

"Professor, Colette-" Lloyd had his glove off, back of his hand to Colette's face, and Raine was there in a moment, hands moving quickly.

"She's running a fever," Raine said, composed. "Edie, is this-"

"The Cruxis Crystal," I agreed. "Fuck, I thought we had more time."

"More time - for what?" demanded Lloyd.

"Move. Please leave this to me."

I turned my head to see Presea - and while I had no clear memory of the event, I was prescient enough to recognize something was wrong, even as Lloyd began to withdraw - her voice had been so convincing. I interposed myself more fully between Presea and Colette, face twisted in the effort of recollection. "She's not herself," I said, waving Lloyd back into place. "Don't let her near Colette."

"But why-" began Genis, offended on Presea's behalf.

"You always were a disobedient child."

Raine and Lloyd closed ranks around Colette, even as I turned. The odor of strong cologne temporarily overwhelmed the smell of rotting leaves and damp moss. My hands began to shake of their own accord.

Rodyle was deceptively tall, his spine arched almost into a hunchback, an impression amplified by his broad green-gray cloak. Beneath the bulk of the cloak he was wiry, with long-fingered hands and thin shoulders. His neck, protruding from the cowl of the cloak like a turtle's head from a shell, was skinny and held almost horizontal, his sharp chin emerging seamlessly from the line of his throat. His face was narrow, his forehead high, his hair wild amethyst and his eyes black and beady. He wore a pair of tiny ruby spectacles, and smiled at me with too many teeth.

I swallowed. I felt as if I was being strangled; how had I spoken to Altessa so easily just an hour ago?

"And who the hell are you?" asked Zelos, appearing at my shoulder. A hand rested at my elbow, and he tried to draw me back away from Rodyle, but my feet were cemented to the ground.

"Oh?" Rodyle said, not taking his eyes off me, "How rude of you not to have introduced us."

I couldn't  _ speak _ .

"I see you've dressed yourself up like a real person," he said, almost fond. "Stupid creature. Step aside or bring me the Chosen."

"Fuck off," I rasped.

I lunged forward, black blade ricocheting off his conjured shield. Rodyle looked surprised - but he'd still reacted in time to stop me. 

Behind me, I could hear shouting - Presea no doubt coming to Rodyle's defense - but all I could focus on was the consuming fear Rodyle had conjured up - a fear still threatening to throttle me. He swung at me in turn, a blade like a scythe unfolding from beneath his cloak. It skittered off the back of my armguard but found purchase in the back of my hand, catching painfully on the underside of a knuckle.

He was fast, but not as fast as Kratos or even Remiel; I feinted sideways, seizing his other arm and wrenching it backwards with a wet snap - but Rodyle had more to work with than a scythe, and between us erupted an explosion of brown-black force that threw the both of us back from the point of origin. I somersaulted backwards, scrabbling on the dirt - and there was a piercing cry.

Rodyle's dragons were much larger than those we'd taken to the Tower. One of a pair slammed into the earth, electric yellow wing unfolding like a mainsail and blocking Rodyle from view. The other swept low over the group surrounding Colette, but was rebuffed in a burst of white light - Raine's doing - and in another moment it had made a hairpin turn, wheeling back into the sky at amazing speed.

Rodyle might have been a fool, but he was smart enough to cut his losses - when I saw him next he was plastered to the back of the first dragon, face distorted with pain. 

I wanted to follow him. I wanted to  _ hurt _ him - to return even a fraction of the fear I'd felt on seeing him. But the sudden elation at being away from him - at the idea of being where he  _ wasn't _ \- was more powerful, and so I did nothing.

I dropped to my knees, boneless with relief.

It had all happened so  _ fast _ .

"Are you okay?" Sheena was asking.

I blinked at her. "Yeah. Uh. Is Presea-"

"Knocked out," Sheena said, wincing. "Everyone else is fine. You're bleeding," she observed.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Raine? I think she's in shock."

"Well, at least she's not alone," grumbled Raine.

I recovered over the next few minutes, as wounds were cared for and the aftermath of our second, less-expected battle dealt with. Regal was carrying Presea's limp body, which only served to make Genis more anxious and annoyed with him, and Colette was back on her feet, apologizing profusely. We'd have to get moving soon, I observed distantly - in time, the citizens' curiosity would get the better of them, or one of the Knights would wake up.

"Who the heck was that?" asked Lloyd, when he had stopped badgering Colette.

I rubbed at my throat, feeling inexplicably embarrassed.

"Rodyle," I said at last. "He's one of the Grand Cardinals. I think he might have, uh, made me."

"... _ Oh _ ," said Lloyd, wide eyed.

"Yeah, oh," I agreed. "Can we get out of here? I need to lay down for an hour or twenty."

"But-"

"We can talk about everything at Altessa's," I promised, not quite sure I'd be able to.

* * *

Presea, with some medical assistance, remained in a deep sleep the entire flight down to Altessa's, sandwiched between Colette and Sheena (Genis had been adamant, verging on annoying) and was still in peaceful slumber when we arrived. Altessa had kept his promise, and Tabatha was at the door to usher us inside. A meal had even been laid out on the long, low table.

"This is a change," Zelos observed, rightly skeptical.

"I'm really good at talking to people," I bragged, although I was being facetious.

Altessa emerged from his workshop a little after we showed up.

"You have the ore?" he directed towards me, visibly uncomfortable.

I waved at Lloyd, who stood. "I've got it," Lloyd said, "And - I'd like to use part of your workshop."

Altessa directed his confusion and annoyance at me, rather than speak directly to anyone else. I couldn't help but smile.

"Lloyd was raised by a dwarf," I explained. "He made Colette's Key Crest, and he's a genius."

Lloyd went very red. "W-well, I wouldn't say  _ genius _ ..."

"Yeah," agreed Genis, "I wouldn't say  _ that _ ."

"...Fine," huffed Altessa. "Bring..." he glanced at Presea, asleep in Regal's arms. "Bring Presea through. Tabatha, I will need your help."

Tabatha nodded, and turned to us. "PLEASE EAT AND RELAX HERE WHILE MY MASTER WORKS."

I watched them go, feeling strange.

"So," Zelos said, after a long moment, "Who was that guy?"

I groaned. "I told Lloyd - he's a Desian. And he's like a mad scientist, or something? I talked to Altessa earlier, and I think... whatever project they worked on together, it was in two parts. Altessa made Tabatha, and Rodyle made me."

"...Made Tabatha?" repeated Colette, blinking wide eyes at me. 

"Remember what I said about the vessels? She's the inorganic one, and I suppose I'm the organic one. I think - look, I don't want to know too much about how the... proverbial sausage was made," I gestured a little desperately. "The point is, Altessa said he made me, and also he's clearly super evil. I think he's working on the same Angelus project that Kvar was? So kind of in that realm of evil."

"Huh," said Sheena, slowly. "So, if you think about it, you, Colette and Tabatha are all kind of in the same boat?"

I paused.

"I didn't think of it like that," I admitted. "So that'd make Colette... a little sister?"

Colette brightened, hands clasped in joy. "Right! We really are like sisters, then! And Zelos would be like a brother!"

"Woah, hang on," Zelos said, "If what you guys said about how the Chosen marriages work is true, then I'm maybe a third or fourth cousin at  _ best _ ."

Sheena was quiet for another moment. " _ Hey _ , you're just saying that so you can hit on them!"

"Wh - I'm not! It's simple genetics!"

"You are so gross."

"I mean, technically," I said, "Colette are probably  _ as _ genetically similar as sisters or at least first cousins. I don't really know how mana signature correlates to phenotypical genetics, if that's even the right word, but..."

"Yeah," said Genis, frowning. "If Martel was a half-elf, why make the half-elves into the Desians and have a human be the Chosen? It'd be easier, too, since half-elves have greater capacity for mana manipulation to begin with, why..."

"Lifespan, I would suppose," said Raine. "Half-elves live too long to efficiently breed viable candidates."

That sunk in.

"Geez," groaned Sheena. "Yggdrasill really is crazy."

"Altessa isn't sure if Yggdrasill knows I'm alive," I said, flopping back to lie flat on the stone floor. Sheena, at my side, looked down at me in mixed amusement and concern. "I remember him being pretty pissed about Tabatha, so he probably wouldn't be happy to see me. Or maybe he'd be like, oh, good, a new body..."

"He wouldn't have seen you in the Tower," said Raine, thoughtful. "You were face-down. And there was quite a lot of blood."

"Oh, eff," I sat up again. "Raine, can we talk alone?"

"I thought we said no more secrets," complained Genis.

"It's - adult lady stuff," I lied wildly, even as Raine stood and beckoned me towards the adjoining room.

"Eww," Genis said, scowling.

"Oooh, what kind of stuff?" Zelos asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Just - chill here for a minute," I pointed accusingly before hurrying to catch up with Raine. She closed the door behind me, and we stood in muffled silence - it was a guest room of some sort, with a few cot beds and a vase of fresh flowers on a little table. Raine turned to me, eyebrow raised. "So."

"Colette will be able to hear us," Raine pointed out, folding her arms.

I made a face. "Colette, if you can hear us, cover your ears. It's secret. Anyway," I went on, because I trusted Colette to keep her mouth shut even to her own detriment, "Yggdrasill. I don't remember if I told you, but he can change what he looks like. In the story, he can disguise himself as a half-elf boy, about Genis' age. I think it's the age he was when Martel died." I took a deep breath. "The point is, in the story, he goes out of his way to insinuate himself into the group."

Raine opened her mouth, then closed it again.

"Yggdrasill does this?" I nodded. "Why are you hesitant to tell the others?"

"I wanted your opinion," I admitted. "I'm afraid that if I tell them, and he pulls the same stunt, it'll be obvious we know and he'll just... kill us. On the other hand, if we let him travel with us, even for a while, he's going to try to use Genis."

"Genis?" Raine frowned. "Because... he sees a parallel between the two of them, doesn't he." I nodded - she sighed, and folded her arms in deep thought. "I understand your hesitation," she said, after a long pause. "I don't think this group is capable of subterfuge, especially if the children are afraid or think someone's a threat. But... I think it's better for them to know, and to give them the opportunity to be prepared. Is it supposed to happen soon?"

I shook my head. "I'm not sure. I know that it happens after Ozette is destroyed, and that he stays with Altessa for a while, but Altessa doesn't recognize him as Yggdrasill? Fuck. I don't remember why he destroys Ozette in the first place." Ozette had come up in our discussion of Palmacosta, way back at the Tower; I'd mentioned that Cruxis was responsible, but I'd forgotten about or excluded the part about Mithos. "So I don't know when."

"Hm. Maybe because of Ozette's discrimination towards half-elves?"

I snorted. "If that was the case, why not destroy everything?"

She smiled thinly. "He can't break  _ all _ his toys at once. But I take your point. Is it in response to us, perhaps?"

I shrugged. "In the story, I think Altessa blames himself, but that doesn't make much sense to me. Honestly, it might just be an excuse for Mithos to frame himself as a victim - of a tragedy, and of Ozette."

"And curry sympathy," Raine sighed. "Of course Genis would become attached. You and Harley are the only half-elves he really knows, and if Mithos is pretending to be his age... It's a recipe for disaster. I'd prefer Genis to be prepared."

"He's got a big heart," I paused. "Speaking of which... In the story - well. I think Lloyd tries to... 'fix' Yggdrasill. Get him to see the error of his ways and live in the new world."

"Of course he does," Raine exhaled, looking as exhausted as I felt. "He's always been idealistic. I take it he doesn't succeed?"

I shook my head. "That doesn't mean it's impossible, but I don't think it's likely. Mithos, Kratos, Yuan - I don't think we can treat them like rational people. They've been alive too long. If they aren't obviously insane, then they're seriously out of touch with reality."

"Living that long..."

I nodded in agreement.

We emerged back into the dining room-slash-kitchen to find that Regal had rejoined the party, although Lloyd was still in Altessa's workshop. Everyone was eating, and I couldn't stave off hunger any longer. It just looked too good.

"I believe Lloyd is working on some kind of shielding device," Regal informed us, looking not at all confident in his reporting. "He said you would know what that is."

"We do," I grinned. "Thanks."

"So, what were you two kids chatting about in there?" Zelos asked, unable to let it go.

"We'll talk about it when everyone's back together," Raine said, amused. "We do have an awful lot to go over."

* * *

I was half-asleep in a corner, head pillowed on my bag, when Lloyd rejoined us. It felt a little as if we were waiting for a friend to come out of surgery; Regal and Genis were immediately at attention, Genis on his feet and Regal straightening out of his slump. They regarded Lloyd like a weary doctor just peeling off his gloves - I had no idea  _ why _ . It wasn't as if Presea was in any danger.

"Is Presea-?" Genis asked, eyes wide.

Lloyd looked at him, bemused. "She's fine. The Crest is all done. She's still sleeping, though. The Professor kind of overdid it."

Genis looked at Raine, accusing.

"She's perfectly safe, Genis," Raine said, half-scolding and half-reassuring. "She'll wake up on her own. If her condition is anything like Colette's, then she'll be catching up on a great deal of sleep."

Genis and Regal both deflated a little in the face of Raine's aggressive reasonableness. 

"Anyway," Lloyd said, beaming, "I finished the shield charms!" He opened his bare palm, revealing three simple bracelets, each no more than a band of engraved metal. He handed one to Zelos, one to Colette, and one, to great surprise, to me. His delight at my reaction was simply  _ effervescent _ . "I figure, if you and Colette are both supposed to be like Martel, then Cruxis might be able to track you, too! Plus, it counts as an early birthday present, so I'm basically paid up for this year!"

Raine gave a muffled snort of laughter. I dissolved into giggles.

"Thanks, Lloyd," I said, when I'd recovered.

"It's beautiful," cooed Colette, admiring the soft golden color of the bracelet against the pale peach of her skin.

"Yeah, thanks, bud," Zelos said, giving him a lopsided grin.

The bracelet, presumably made of inhibitor ore, was surprisingly comfortable to wear, and flexible enough to be worn loosely around the wrist or more securely around the forearm. Colette and Zelos both wore some jewelry already, of quality or intricacy to overwhelm the plain design of the bracelet, but I wasn't used to wearing metal on my skin. It'd take a little while to get used to, and longer to learn not to fidget with it.

"So," said Sheena, once she was done cooing over Colette's new accessory, "What next?"

Raine and I shared a look.

"Where do we start?" I asked. "We need to talk about what's happening right now if we're going to plan our next moves."

"...Aren't we just going to make more pacts?" Genis said, confused. "So we can free the Great Seed, right?"

I glanced at Raine again, in the hope that she'd take over - but she didn't, and so I resigned myself to another long, dreary session of exposition.

"That's part of what we need to do, yes," I agreed. "But if we free the Great Seed right now, we won't have any way to control its growth. If we go through with the Renegade's plan, we'll definitely grow  _ something _ , but it won't be the Kharlan Tree. I think... I might be wrong, but I think we need the Eternal Sword  _ first _ . That, combined with Sheena's command of the Summon Spirits, should be enough to direct the tree's growth."

A silence stretched.

"The Eternal What now?" asked Zelos, leaning on his fist.

"It's - I've honestly lost track of who I've told what," I said apologetically. "The Eternal Sword was created by Origin  _ for _ Mithos - it's the focus he used to split the world in the first place. It gives the wielder power over time and space. Right now, Mithos has the Sword - I'm pretty sure it's in the Tower of Salvation - but the pact itself was made by Kratos. Essentially, Mithos gave himself insurance by making Origin promise that the Sword could only be used by half-elves."

"...Huh? Kratos?" asked Lloyd.

I sucked in a breath through my teeth. "Did I... not mention that? Kratos and Yuan were the other companions to Mithos and Martel."

Raine sighed. "You told me, yes. I don't think you mentioned it to the others yet."

"Kratos?" Lloyd repeated. "But - he'd have to be hundreds-"

"Thousands," Genis corrected.

"- _ Thousands _ of years old."

"As far as we can tell," Raine said, "Angels aren't subject to any conventional forms of aging. The samples I've been  _ permitted _ to study," she shot me a nasty look, for whatever reason, "Are similar to preserved tissue, rather than living flesh. I don't know how it is that they can give the impression of being alive - they should be pallid and incapable of bleeding, but Kratos appeared as a normal human right up until the Tower."

"That's why he didn't bleed when I ripped his arm off," I sighed. "So it's got to be something he can do or undo in a few hours."

"Ripped his..." Zelos trailed off.

"So Kratos really is on Mithos' side," grumbled Genis. "I kind of hoped..."

I shook my head. "Let me get one thing straight - I don't think we can trust Kratos  _ or _ Yuan. It's like - I wouldn't trust a dog to do my laundry, right? Follow me on this one," I waved a hand, trying to head off any protest. "I wouldn't trust a dog to do my laundry no matter how nice the dog was. Kratos and Yuan have been alive for literally thousands of years - I don't think we can work well with them because they don't see us as real people, does that make sense?"

"I think... I think you could probably train a dog to do laundry," volunteered Colette.

"That's not really the point," Sheena said, consoling. "But I'm sure you could."

"Yuan really does want to stop Mithos. But instead of working with us, he tried to capture Lloyd. Kratos - I think he's not happy with Mithos, either."

"If you think about it," said Zelos, "Mithos kind of played him for a chump. It sounds like he had Kratos deal with the dangerous part of his offer while Mithos got all the power."

I nodded. "I'm sure that originally it was a good-faith gesture, because Kratos was the only human, and Martel was killed by a human, but it's not a very balanced arrangement. That's why Kratos didn't kill us at the Tower. I'm not saying he's on our side," I hedged, "But he's got his doubts."

Lloyd frowned. "So... is he our enemy, or not?"

I shrugged. "It's not that clear-cut."

"Right now," Raine said, "It doesn't particularly matter if he's our enemy or our ally. If he is our ally, he's powerless to help us, and if he's our enemy, he's shown he doesn't have the conviction to get rid of us. What we do know is that we need to break his pact in order to use the Eternal Sword. If he's willing to help, then it can probably be done peacefully," she nodded at me. "If not..."

"I don't think he's broken his oath," I explained. "I don't actually know the specifics, but I think if he won't help us we'll have to actually kill him."

Genis and Colette looked stricken, but Lloyd's expression was resolute.

"He'll help us," Lloyd said, matter-of-factly. "Even if he's not really on our side, I think he'll help us."

"You guys-" Zelos shook his head. "You guys have too much faith in people, y'know? Kratos has been on Mithos' side for, what," he ticked off the millennia on his hands, "four thousand years? Why would he turn on him  _ now _ ?"

I exhaled. I really,  _ really _ didn't want to get into the mess that was Lloyd's parentage, now or ever. If it was revealed, I would swear ignorance of it up and down. It would only make Lloyd angry, and knowing it wasn't actually of any use to us. No, Kratos was a big boy who could mend his own burnt bridges - I was going to focus on problems I could actually solve.

"Fair point," I conceded. "But... we have some time. If I'm right, we can safely make pacts with 7 out of the 8 elemental spirits, if you count Aska and Luna as one. Every pact we make takes some power away from Mithos, so we should think about which ones we should make and which one can be made after we deal with the Eternal Sword. There's also the matter of the sword itself, and who's going to  _ wield _ it."

"...It'd have to be you, right?" Sheena prompted. "If a half-elf can use it, you're our only option."

I hissed out a breath. "I don't... know? In my memory, Lloyd's the one using it. He has to have a kind of special ring to do it, but - I think it needs to be Lloyd."

"Why does it have to be me?" asked Lloyd, confused. "It's magic, right? It sounds easier if you just use it."

"One, I don't think I have the right personality for it," I said, holding up a finger, "Two, it's too much pressure. Three-"  _ If I'm the Eternal Swordsman, and I go back home, what happens here?  _ "I don't want to. So we for sure need to add 'ring that lets you do magic' to the list of things to research.  _ Anyway _ , item two - Raine?"

Raine nodded. "Colette's Cruxis Crystal is trying to take over her body." We'd talked about how best to phrase it so as to avoid making Colette feel responsible - whether it'd work was anyone's guess. "Do you remember the Unicorn's words, Colette and Sheena? It's the same illness that Martel suffered from. We don't know what the treatment is, but Edie is sure there  _ is _ one."

Sheena half-raised a hand. "Uh, but if Colette has it because Martel had it, how come Edie isn't sick?"

I shrugged.  _ I _ had no idea.

"It may be any number of factors - age, the kind of Exsphere and Crest... It may even be that Edie develops the illness later in life, and has to be treated then," Raine elaborated. "We don't yet know what factors made Colette and Martel susceptible in the first place, or what triggers the onset of the illness. Edie thinks there may be records relating to Martel's treatment in the archives either in Meltokio or Sybak."

"Sorry," I winced, "I can't remember anything more specific than that."

"Oh no, you only  _ kind _ of know everything, how annoying," Zelos mocked.

"Shut up," Sheena snapped. "She's being more useful than  _ you _ ."

"I think Zelos was joking," I waved a hand, "Also, it made me feel better. Thanks, though."

"So," said Lloyd, "If we're choosing where to go next, it definitely has to be Meltokio, right? If Colette's suffering, then that should be our first priority."

Colette went red and waved her hands in protest. "No, I'm not - it's not bad at all. We should focus on making pacts; I'll be okay."

"No, I agree with Lloyd," Sheena said, seizing one of Colette's flailing hands. "I can't stand by knowing you're in pain. We're stronger as a team, right? Then we should make sure you're okay, first."

"It's not that simple," Raine sighed. "We may not be able to cure Colette right away," she went on, glancing in my direction. "I agree that we should go to Meltokio first. We all need rest and to recover our supplies. We also have a lot of information we need - regarding Colette and the pacts. We can decide then where to go next. We've bought ourselves some time," she said, gesturing at the bangle on Zelos' wrist. "But we have to be prepared to walk a long road, metaphorically speaking."

"Right, so," Zelos looked pointedly over at Regal, who had been silent so far. "What are your thoughts on this, Duke Bryant?"

Regal blinked. "I - have nothing to contribute." It was almost a plea - how else could you respond in the face of so much bewildering nonsense? I felt, again, as if I'd robbed him of the opportunity to genuinely incorporate into the group. I'd already suggested that I leave, but that was shot down, and aside from Presea, Regal had no connections to the group. It would all depend on her.

"Sorry," said Sheena, sheepish. "This is probably pretty ridiculous for you to hear."

"...Yes," he admitted.

"It'll feel less stupid when we're doing stuff, not just talking about doing stuff," I volunteered.

"Will it?" asked Genis.

"It might," I said, a tad defensive. "You never know."

"I'm sure it'll-" began Raine.

"EXCUSE ME." 

The table turned almost as one. Tabatha stood in the archway that lead down to the workshop. Trailing behind her, half-hidden in her shadow, was Presea, face blotchy and wet. Presea looked many years younger, while being physically unchanged - it was an eerie effect, magnified by the way she clung to Tabatha's hand. She was hiccuping and sniffling, and looked tired in a way that suggested a lot of tears had been spent in pursuit of her composure.

"PRESEA HAS AWOKEN," Tabatha said, unnecessarily. 

"Presea!" cried Genis.

"Are you okay?" asked Colette, springing up from her seat.

Presea locked eyes with Colette - and then burst into a fresh round of sobs. 

"I'm sorry!" she wailed. "I'm sorry," she went on, sounding much more like a little girl than she ever had before. Her voice was croaky from crying, although we'd heard none of it from the dining room. "I tried to attack you all, and after you were so nice to me - I'm so, so sorry!" Tabatha raised a hand to Presea's shoulder and rubbed easy circles on her back. Presea rubbed her face hard into the collar of her rough dress - it must have been painful on her raw skin, but she did it anyway.

"It's - it's okay!" Colette said, hands fluttering. "We're all fine, so it's okay!" Her eyes were shining, too. In another moment, we had two crying girls, Tabatha tending to one and Sheena to the other. Genis, previously so eager to speak, was paralyzed with fear.

"Altessa explained about - about everything," said Presea, head downcast. "I - I hurt you." 

Presea's breathing evened a little. Colette stymied another round of tears, dabbing her eyes on one long tail of her jacket.

The storm, so sudden to begin with, passed.

"You didn't hurt anyone," Sheena assured her, as Colette sniffled. "If anyone has the right to be upset, it's you."

Presea nodded gravely, and very slowly detached herself from Tabatha. She stared at her feet, visibly working up the courage to speak again. 

"I'd like to see my Daddy," said Presea. Nearly everyone winced, and Presea went on, "I know he's dead, but I'd like to see him anyway. Please."

* * *

It was getting late, but we made the trip by Rheaird, landing one by one in the yard of the Combatir house. Presea - either due to familiarity or my resemblance to Tabatha - had elected to ride with me, rather than anyone else. It had been a completely silent ride, and on touch-down, she clambered off the seat, stumbling in her urgent need to inspect the house.

"...Should I go with her?" I asked Raine, even as Presea opened the front door, arms trembling.

"I... think you've done enough for today," Raine said, kindly. "Let Lloyd or Regal handle this."

We retreated to a low stone bench at the far end of the yard, if only to rest for a while.

I slumped into her side. "Today has been so  _ long _ ," I complained, but quietly enough for only her to hear me. I wasn't a  _ complete _ asshole. "I'm losing track of everything."

"You'll have the chance to recover," Raine said with certainty. "You're doing very well, considering. Don't be too upset at everyone's incredulity," she added, more gently. "Even with all that's happened... I've had time to get used to the idea of you as a kind of soothsayer, but it's still very fresh to the others."

"I -" I paused, watching Regal enter the house a little behind Lloyd. I shook my head. "It's surreal for me too. And I don't like the idea of you guys relying too much on me. I feel like telling you too much - we have this story back home about a guy called Oedipus? And it's all about how trying to change the future can bring about something even worse, you know. But - what am I supposed to do? Keep lying?"

"You ask me as if I have any answers to give," Raine said, smiling thinly at me. "How am I supposed to know? Perhaps you've doomed us all, or perhaps you've saved us. Or perhaps knowing isn't enough to change anything at all. How can I say?"

I laughed, weak and breathy. "I'll know, though. If I ruin this for everyone and get you all killed, I'll know, and - ow!" I rubbed at the back of my skull, squinting at her. "What was that for?"

"You're entirely too self-centered," Raine accused me. "Stop behaving as if you are the nail this journey hinges on - it's tiring for you  _ and _ me."

I grinned helplessly at her. "It is, isn't it?"

Raine sighed. "It may be a story to you, Edie, but to us it's life. You can't expect to control all the factors that make a future."

"You're so much smarter than me," I observed. "You'd be a lot better at this than I am."

"Maybe," Raine agreed, "But I'm glad not to be. It seems exhausting."

"Love to see you two open and close the day with some small talk," Zelos said, emerging from the house to join us on the filthy lawn. He looked very tired. "What are we going to do about tonight? We can head back to Meltokio right away, but we won't get there until after midnight."

"Rest at Altessa's?" I suggested. "We're kind of best friends now."

Raine snorted. "I'm sure you are. But it's the best option - I don't think anyone wants to stay in Ozette longer than we have to."

Sheena was the next to join us.

"Today's been too long," she complained. "I can't believe we were at Toize Valley just yesterday. And Volt was the day before that!"

"Things are going to be moving faster now," Raine agreed grimly. "It's hard to think straight."

"We'll have time in Meltokio," Zelos promised. "Once we get inside, we'll be safe as houses in my... house? Anyway, we can put together all the stuff we got at Sybak, too, and I can have Sebastian pull some strings in the Castle, see what we can turn up."

"I still don't get why you think we'll be safer at your mansion," Sheena grumbled. "Everyone will know exactly where we are."

"Nuh-uh-uh," Zelos said, waggling a finger at her. "It's reverse psychology. It's the place they'd  _ least _ expect us to go! Also, the whole place is covered in defensive enchantments. You think this is the  _ first _ time someone's tried to kill little old me?" He fluttered his eyelashes at her - she swatted at him. It was reassuringly in-character.

Genis appeared some time later, yawning and drained.

"What time is it?" he asked, slumping down on Raine's other side. We were running out of room on the bench.

"Late," supplied Sheena. "But we did a lot. I'm never gonna get used to the Rheairds."

"Yeah, you will," replied Zelos. "And you'll be like,  _ ugh _ , I have to fly four hours? I should just zap myself place to place. You can get used to anything," he said knowledgeably.

Any argument was cut off by Lloyd, who came out onto the stoop to wave at us. "Zelos, Edie, can you guys help?"

We came, the impetus becoming clear as we entered. The house had been cleared - not extensively, but enough to free up a path from the bedroom to the door. Colette was visible through the doorway, hands clasped in prayer over the shape of a human body, swaddled in many layers of cloth, while Presea knelt beside her, Regal standing not far off.

Lloyd shooed us away from the door, directing us back onto the stoop and to a collection of yard equipment, from which he unearthed two shovels and a trowel. After a moment of debate, he handed Zelos the trowel.

"Hey," Zelos protested.

"A trowel is way easier to use than a shovel," I pointed out. "You're getting off easy."

"Sorry," Lloyd said, sounding genuinely apologetic. "Presea wanted Regal to be there for the rites or whatever. Come on," he urged us, "We should start digging."

"Never thought I'd be reduced to a gravedigger," Zelos remarked, but he came without complaint.

We dug. Sheena and Genis eventually joined in by pulling up the long grass and weeds alongside us, clearing an area for something better resembling a dignified burial. Raine, feeling left out, helped by providing some illumination.

It was a supernatural experience - the sun had long since set, leaving us to work in the light of Sheena's lantern and Raine's magic. It cast our immediate surroundings into stark relief while anything too distant was swallowed by blackness. Insects were singing in the trees, and the mild heat of the day had receded into a consuming chill. At some late hour - I'd given up trying to guess the time - Presea emerged, Colette at her side and Regal bringing up the rear.

Presea carried her father's body without apparent strain. We cleared the path for her, and she knelt by the edge of the open grave, face in and out of shadow as she moved. Lloyd helped to lower the body down, and then it was Presea that started the process of reburying him.

Burying the body was much faster than digging the grave. When the earth was packed down again, and the shovels laid aside, she unfastened the greataxe from her back and set it on the mound. 

"Thank you," she said at last. "I'm glad I was able to bury him."

Regal reached out, hand on her shoulder. She seemed to take comfort in that - a surprising change from what I had expected.

"I - I want to go with you," she said, to the rest of us. "I've been a great burden on you all, and... I want to make sure that there are no more victims like me. Like - like Alicia. I - I don't want to stay here."

"Yeah, of course," Lloyd agreed at once, "We owe you, anyway."

"Please allow me to come along as well," Regal said, withdrawing his hand from Presea's shoulder. "Presea is my responsibility," he went on, "And I feel the same way she does. People like Vharley - like Mithos," he acknowledged, nodding in my direction, "Can't be allowed to continue as they have for so long. I - admit I don't yet fully grasp the scope of what you're doing, but I promise I will do all I can to help."

I smiled sidelong at Lloyd, who clearly hadn't expected both proclamations to be made to him, rather than Raine or I.

"Yeah! Of course you're welcome to join us," Lloyd nodded, recovering admirably and giving the both of them his best grin. "We'd be -" he glanced around, as if double checking. "We'd be happy to have you."

"Thank you," said Regal, with great sobriety. "I am in your debt. I shall not betray your trust."

Genis surprised me by arguing the contrary. "If it wasn't for Regal, we couldn't have gotten the inhibitor ore, and if it wasn't for Presea we never would have gotten to talk to the King. You guys don't owe us anything," he pointed out. "But... I'd be really happy if you came with us," he added, glancing hurriedly at Presea and then back down at his feet, ears red. "If you want."

"Yes, I think we're all in agreement," Raine said, amused. 

Presea nodded, and then yawned.

"Let's go back to Altessa's for tonight," Sheena suggested, offering us a tired smile. "I think we all deserve some rest."

* * *

Tabatha was waiting for us at the door.

I would have said 'Tabatha stayed up to see us in', but I doubted she needed sleep. Altessa was nowhere to be found, but there were plenty of blankets and a half-dozen cots. After a brief argument (during which Zelos was nearly banished outside), we decided that Sheena and Colette would share, and I would share with Presea. Regal, eternally self-serious, slept on the floor.

I still had no idea why Presea was favoring me; it seemed unconscious on her part. Maybe I was overthinking it - she and I were simply the best suited to it, as Raine was much taller and Sheena and I were both slightly too wide to share a bed. But whatever the reason, I couldn't help but feel smug - like when an unfriendly cat chooses your lap, rather than your neighbor's.

I was bone-tired, and fell asleep as soon as I closed my eyes. 

It had been a  _ long _ day.

* * *

"Hey! We're going to Meltokio today!"

I groaned and curled in on myself. One of Presea's socked feet jostled my chin - she wasn't properly awake yet, either, although Regal was nowhere to be seen. Lloyd, not easily put down, could be heard bodily removing Genis from his cot - to the result of much muted violence. Raine, on the cot beside mine, rolled onto her stomach, barricading herself beneath a borrowed pillow as if preparing for a bomb to drop.

"Lloyd, shut up," Zelos advised, voice thick with sleep.

"You said you guys wanted to leave early," Lloyd said innocently. "And I've been up for a while, anyway!"

"Since when do you get up early?" complained Sheena. "You're usually  _ last _ up!"

"Yeah, but Altessa's workshop is really interesting," Lloyd said, brightly, "And Tabatha knows how to make tons of dwarf-style food. You guys should try the bread, it's just like my dad makes."

"...Why is he so loud," murmured Presea, somewhere around my knee.

"I don't know, but I hate it," I replied.

Raine said something rendered inaudible by the pillow.

"The Professor says we can leave later," Colette translated.  _ She _ was sitting up, bleary but bright-eyed. "I think you'd better go back outside, Lloyd, she sounds really angry."

Lloyd wisely went out again.

I'd slept without dreaming, so that going from evening to morning was like losing time - but I was awake now, and Lloyd had shattered whatever serenity I'd had. "You should get some more sleep," I mumbled, patting Presea's ankle and extricating myself from the mess of blankets. 

My boots had been knocked a ways away, either by me or Lloyd, as had the pile of outerwear that made up my daily  _ look _ . It'd been a while since I'd slept without my body armor, and sleep was making me clumsy with the clasps, buckles and laces. It took me longer to dress than it should have, and I kept getting distracted by the  _ smell _ . It was easy to ignore the greasy, gritty feeling of travel, so long as you didn't have the time to think about it, but now I was thinking about it - and it was very, very gross.

Presea, beside me, was also shrugging into her jacket and lacing up her shoes.

"You can sleep longer," I repeated myself. "We probably won't go until Raine feels ready, anyway."

Presea shook her head, hair hanging stiffly over her shoulders, yet to be tied up for the day. "I'm awake now," she said, "And I should say good morning to Regal."

I blinked over at her. "You two are getting along?"

She glanced up at me. "Yes... I feel responsible for him," she said, in the tone of a confession. "He's a little like a younger brother."

Zelos, doing a poor job of pretending not to overhear, coughed violently.

"That makes sense," I agreed. 

Regal, oblivious to Presea's sisterly proclamation, was meditating in the morning sun.

"Good morning," greeted Presea.

Regal's eyes slid open, but he didn't move from his position, cross-legged on a low wall. "Good morning, Presea," he said, with an annoying, self-satisfied kind of composure. "Good morning, Edie. Did you both sleep well?"

"I slept well," Presea volunteered. "Did you? It's not very healthy to sleep on the floor."

Regal smiled. "I've slept in many worse places, I assure you. I slept well."

"I had horrible, awful nightmares," I said.

Presea looked up at me, stricken. "You did? I'm sorry, that sounds terrible."

I certainly felt terrible  _ now _ . "No, no, sorry, I was joking. I slept really peacefully."

"...Oh," replied Presea, frowning thoughtfully. "...So a lie is the same as a joke?"

"No, it's not," said Regal, giving me a hard look.

Why was everyone being  _ difficult _ this morning?

"A lie is only a joke if no one's hurt by it," I said, patting her on the shoulder and doing my best to seem like a responsible adult. "You were both being really serious so I thought it'd be funny. I didn't mean to make you worry."

Presea's frown deepened. "But... it would be natural to worry, if a friend is in pain."

"That's true," agreed Regal, approving. "And it's unkind to play with the feelings of others."

I gave up on responsibility and fixed Regal with a lip-wobbling, cheek-puffing, eyebrow-knitting  _ pout _ . "You're no fun. Presea, Regal's being mean."

"I am not-"

Presea looked around at him. "You shouldn't be mean to Edie," she said, seriously. "Edie has been very kind to me, and we are very similar."

Regal, flustered, looked between the two of us. "I - apologize," he said to me, grudging as he could be without obvious hostility. "I... should have taken your joke in the manner intended. I didn't mean to make you unhappy."

I crossed my arms. "I forgive you."

Presea smiled, pleased with the diplomatic resolution.

"Anyway," I said, taking pity on the both of them, "Lloyd says there's breakfast."

"...Thank you, but I've already eaten," Regal replied.

"Ooookay," I agreed, "Well, see you later?"

"I will come with you," Presea said, "Breakfast is important."

"It's the most important meal of the day," I agreed.

The meal in question was laid out on the dining table, in tureens and baskets and on plates. Tabatha was still working at the hearth, Lloyd beside her with his hair back in a messy ponytail. Dim he might have been, but Lloyd was good with his hands, and Presea was soon drawn in to his demonstration of Dwarfish egg-flipping. I was happy to munch on the bounty already on display, as there was so much of it.

"Do you like cooking, Tabatha?" I asked, after a while.

Tabatha looked around at me. "I SUPPOSE I DO. DO YOU?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I used to bake a lot. Or... I think I baked a lot. What's your favorite food?"

Tabatha looked down briefly, and I felt like an ass. "I DO NOT NEED TO EAT," she said, "BUT I DO HAVE THE CAPACITY TO SMELL."

"Do you have a favorite smell, then?" I asked.

"...VANILLA AND CITRUS, I THINK."

I brightened. "Really? That's probably my favorite, too."

Tabatha looked curiously at me. "STRANGE, BUT INTERESTING. WE ARE MADE DIFFERENTLY, BUT WE ARE SIMILAR."

I laughed. "Yeah, Colette was saying that the three of us are sisters. That'd make me the oldest, and you the... youngest?" I squinted, uncertain. In my last life I had been the youngest of three sisters by a long shot, but it was difficult to tell what age Tabatha was supposed to be. If she  _ was _ modeled on Martel at 16, then Colette would win out.

Tabatha shook her head. "THAT IS INCORRECT. I WOULD BE THE OLDEST, AND COLETTE WOULD BE THE YOUNGEST."

Lloyd looked around at that. "Huh? But Edie's old!"

"Hey!"

"IF THE PROJECTS WERE INDEED SIMILAR," observed Tabatha, "THEN IT IS LIKELY EDIE WAS 'CREATED' AT THE DESIRED AGE. THEREFORE, SHE CANNOT BE MORE THAN EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD. I WAS CREATED TWENTY YEARS AGO, AND SO COLETTE WOULD BE THE YOUNGEST."

I gaped. "Oh my god, I'm a baby!"

"Hey, wait," Lloyd protested, "If you were made at 16, and it's been eighteen years, then you're - thirty - thirty-eight!"

"Thirty-four," Presea corrected.

"Nooo," I cried, "Don't take this from me!"

"HALF-ELVES AGE MORE SLOWLY THAN HUMANS," Tabatha observed.

I covered my face in my hands. "Thirty-four... thirty-four..."

"I am thirty," Presea told me, "But I am also twelve. We are truly similar."

"Thirty-four..." I'd hoped to have a mortgage by 34. Maybe a pet - maybe even a job that paid above minimum wage. Or a car! Even just a little one, to make grocery shopping easier. Where had I gone wrong? What sin had I committed to lose so many years at once? It was simply devastating. "I'm sad now."

"Don't be sad," Presea said, coming around to pat at my shoulder. "You have many years ahead of you."

"...I missed something weird," Sheena sighed, pausing in the doorway of the guest room for only a moment. "Whatever. Hey, this looks great."

In an hour or so, everyone was up, dressed and fed, and so began the process of readying for departure. Presea would be riding with me again, although this time Genis opted to fly with Raine, so that Regal could have a Rheaird to himself and so Zelos would stop complaining for at least a little while. Colette and Sheena had been sharing since the Tower, and were happy to continue - after all, it would only be a three-hour journey.

"We could see if the Renegades would give us another Rheaird," Lloyd suggested, when Genis grumbled about having to double up for Zelos' sake.

"I'm sure they have more important things to worry about," Raine advised. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah, let's go," said Zelos, eagerly. "I miss my bed!"

* * *

"You said you had a way in," Sheena accused. Zelos tried to wriggle away, but Sheena had his ear between thumb and forefinger and wasn't letting go. "Are you telling me we flew all this way for nothing?"

"Oww, geez," Zelos complained, "I  _ do _ have a way in, so let go. What'd you think, we'd just fly in? We'd be arrested before we could land."

Sheena relented. "Fine, but it better be good."

We had walked perhaps a mile along the wall west of the main gates, with no sign of any hidden entrance. The wall itself was a monument in stone, studded with bits of broken glass and ragged metal to deter anyone from climbing, and tilted slightly outward, making an attempt unlikely in the first place. The top of it, Zelos had cheerfully relayed, was lined with enchantments, not to mention vicious spikes.  _ I  _ wasn't going to try and jump it, if that's what he was thinking.

"...Ugh, what's that smell?" asked Lloyd, nose wrinkled.

"Oh, come on," I said. "No way."

"What?" asked Genis, looking around. "What is it?"

Raine sighed. "The sewer? Really?"

"Look, sometimes a fella's gotta get in and out after dark," Zelos protested. "It's not that bad."

The stone archway was huge, and the bars obstructing the entrance had been ever-so-slightly pulled forward out of position. The resulting gap was noticeable only when approached from the side, and practically invisible dead-on, or at a distance. The roaring water was moving very fast, accumulating a brown froth along the side of a sort of concrete dam, with plenty of space left over for foot traffic.

It was perfectly traversable - but not at all bearable. The smell was truly foul.

"I don't care who you have to bribe," I said, pinching my nose, "but we have gotta find another way out when we leave. That is  _ rank _ ."

"You guys are so picky," Zelos sighed. "I give and give and what do I get?"

"Not hog-tied and thrown into the raging sewer-water?" I suggested.

"Well, when you say it  _ that _ way..."

The Meltokio sewers, while absurdly spacious, were mercifully free of puzzles, Sorcerer's Ring pedestals, and block puzzles. I half expected another ambush, but none came - and after a tremendously odorous thirty minutes, we were back on the surface.

Zelos waved cheerily at passersby as Regal helped to haul Sheena out of the open manhole; we had emerged in a perfectly ordinary residential street somewhere in the gate district. To my amazement, none of the people witnessing the event - nine people in ragged adventuring gear climbing out of a manhole in the middle of a street - seemed to find it at all remarkable. Some of them, children, even seemed accustomed to it, and went up to Zelos to ask for pocket change.

"You run along," Zelos said, easily doling out a hundred Gald apiece, "And don't tell anyone you saw me, right?"

"Right!"

"You really do use this to get in," Sheena sighed. "I can't believe you."

"I think it's pretty smart," Lloyd admitted. "But I don't get why  _ you'd _ have to do something like this."

"Well, the city closes its gates at night, and sometimes..." Zelos trailed off.

"Why would you be getting home so late?" Colette asked, perfectly innocent.

"Oh, you know," Zelos said, "stuff. Now come on, I feel dis _ gusting _ ."

Zelos took us a circuitous route, up from the narrow streets of the gate district and into the lofty avenues of his own neighborhood. I expected to get the odd stare, but no one was out and about except servants, all of whom looked eager to mind their own business. 

It  _ was _ before noon, after all - only poor people got up early. 

"Here we are," Zelos sighed, "Home sweet home."

Zelos' house could better be described as an  _ estate _ .

The lot, mostly garden and greenery, occupied an entire city block. The mansion was easily the size of a chain hotel, although not at all as restrained; everything, from the wide paving-stone avenue to the moldings on the windows, was ostentatious. Rows of blooming flowers framed a facade in creamy brick, and the gates were flanked by statues of armored angels. The roof, sky-blue, gleamed in the morning sun.

The gates opened at a wave, and Zelos lead our ragged crew past pristine topiary, radiant fountains and huge stretches of perfect green lawn, punctuated only by elegant garden furniture. 

"You  _ live _ here?" asked Lloyd, open-mouthed.

"Yep," Zelos agreed, looking weary. "Inherited it myself."

The front double doors, gilded and impossibly grand, opened at our approach. A prim-looking man in his forties - no doubt Sebastian - waited just inside, placid face betraying nothing but professional contentment.

"Welcome home, Chosen One," Sebastian said, bowing first to his master and then to the rest of us. He gave no sign of finding us unpleasant or unusual, only beckoned us into the cavernous foyer and closed the door behind us. 

"Good to be back," sighed Zelos, kicking off his shoes in the general direction of a hatstand. 

The foyer was as grand as the exterior, if not moreso. The walls were papered in golden brocade, and artwork of every size and style decorated the walls, each in a frame nearly as grand as its content. A staircase, wide and elegant, traced the path of the right wall, while the left was taken up by a huge marble hearth surrounded by sumptuous leather furniture; an enormous carpet made of some exotic breed of monster stretched across the floor. 

The alcove beneath the balcony - if you could call a space the size of a modest home an 'alcove' - was cluttered with boxes and bags, any number of priceless musical instruments serving as storage space for unopened gifts. The entire back wall was composed of beautiful glass doors opening onto what must have been a ballroom, the opulent hardwood flooring kept pristine even now.

I was surprised not to see more staff - a building this huge couldn't be maintained by one butler.

Zelos flopped onto a quilted bench with a sigh. "Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

Sebastian nodded. "I was instructed by the Pope and an emissary of His Majesty Tethe'alla the 18th to report as soon as the Chosen returned."

Zelos waved a hand. "You can just ignore that."

"Yes, sir. And your guests?"

"They'll be staying with us for a while," he grinned. "Make sure they get the five-star treatment, huh?"

"Of course, sir."

"Well," Zelos said, when none of us had moved from our awkward huddle at the foyer entrance, "Go on, make yourselves at home."

"You  _ say _ that," complained Sheena, "But..."

"Baths, perhaps?" suggested Sebastian, as if it were simply a good idea and not desperately, obviously necessary. "There are four bathrooms. If you would give me a moment, I will have them prepared. Will the ladies be needing attendants?"

"N-no!" Sheena protested. "It's - fine."

"Aw, I wanna go," Lloyd complained. "I feel awful."

"Ladies first, Lloyd," Zelos sing-songed. "Well, four out of five ladies first."

"Edie and I can share," Raine said, dispassionately. 

"Oh, my," I said, pretending to blush.

"Honestly," she sighed, swatting at my shoulder, "You and Zelos are as bad as each other."

"Am I supposed to take offense to that?" asked Zelos, bemused.

"Nah, we're awesome," I said.

"You also smell," Genis pointed out.

Sebastian - who had somehow disappeared and reappeared in the span of thirty seconds - cleared his throat. "Ladies, if you will follow me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *zooms in on a cool skateboard* what's up, kids! fall has been crazy!  
> this chapter is KIND OF a mess, what with consolidating so much boring information in one place, but i'm happy to be back! i love you all.  
> boring note for boring people: as the story goes on, I'll be taking some liberties with canon as it pertains to the second game (which, to be honest, is not my favorite) and to the canon established in phantasia, a game I haven't actually played. my goal is for the story to have its own consistent internal logic, so apologies if i contradict The Wiki. did you know, a lot of this game's lore is kind of.... confusing? xx ritz  
> this chapter's song from the edie playlist is "it's hard to get around the wind" by alex turner :^)


	21. Meltokio, ???

" _ Four _ bathrooms?" I asked weakly.

Sebastian had at last left us to our own devices, trusting that we could puzzle out the arcane mystery of bath and shower on our own. He'd offered to call for maidservants - never mind that we hadn't spied another member of staff in our entire visit so far - but neither Raine nor I wanted to share the room with yet another occupant. Not that it would have mattered.

The bathroom was enormous. It was about as big as my first apartment, and better-appointed. The floor was white marble, shot through with streaks of gold; there were soft, shaggy rugs laid out beside the bay of sinks and the cavernous stone tub, and very fluffy towels of every size available on a little golden service cart. There were soaps in every color and scent, lotions, creams, brushes and combs, scrubbers, tinctures and serums, each in exquisite packaging or placed on silver stands.

All the fixtures were gold or silver, and one wall was almost entirely mirrored; the lighting was soft and bright, emitted from ceiling-mounted magitech fixtures, and the entire place smelled of sandalwood. 

There were even decorative ferns.

"I'm not sure you could call this a bathroom," Raine said, after a moment. We'd left our shoes at the door, but the floor was so white and clean that I was hesitant to move beyond the threshold. Raine had no such compunctions, and stalked in, inspecting the bathroom inch by inch with great interest. "Hm. Ah, there's a laundry chute. Edie, come inside and close the door, I really would like a bath."

I started, shuffled inside and did as I was told. My filthy socks left little smears on the pristine flooring, so I peeled them off.

"This is ridiculous," I said, as Raine fiddled with the faucets beside the tub. It'd take a while to fill - the thing was the size of a hot tub and there were only two taps, large though they were. Soon it was pouring off steam, but the room wasn't becoming humid, only warm. If there were ventilators or fans, I couldn't see them. 

"Yes," Raine agreed. "You should finish undressing; I think it'd be best to towel down at the sink before we use the bath. It seems... therapeutic, rather than functional."

I made a face at her. "But - my stuff!"

Raine sighed. "You trust Zelos, don't you?" I blinked at her, and nodded. "Then trust we'll be safe here, at least for a time. Obviously, don't put your weapons down the laundry chute."

I resisted a little longer, inspecting the cabinets until I found - as I'd hoped - a pair of terry cloth robes, one in striped blue and the other solid grey. "Where  _ do _ I put my weapons, though?" I wondered, as Raine wadded up a ball of undergarments and dropped it down the chute. "Oh. My backpack, I guess."

"Did you and Genis ever make progress with that spatial magic?" she asked, while I undressed. It took me a long moment to follow the turn in the conversation.

"Oh. When I made a dagger disappear? No, we never really messed with it," I admitted. "I was afraid of losing stuff."

"Hm. Well, we'll work on that," Raine decided, dampening a wash-towel and scrubbing at the worst of the dirt and blood accumulated over the last week. She'd been more-or-less out of commission while at sea, so she was actually worse off than I was. "You said Origin uses spatial and time magic - it'd do you well to have a better understanding of it. And it might come in useful for storage."

I gave her a narrow look. "You just wanna turn me into a bookmobile."

"I don't know what that is," she said, discarding the used towel. "But I assume you mean I want you to carry books? That  _ would _ be useful," she mused, smiling.

"Anyway, I don't think I can use the sword, if that's what you're thinking," I cautioned, squirreling away the last piece of body armor and going to the sinks for my own little sponge-bath. Raine cautiously toed at the water, and after a moment's consideration, climbed inside and submerged herself up the waist. She'd put some kind of soap in that was bubbling, and it smelled really, really good. "I think it has to be Lloyd."

"Why?" she asked, easing down and selecting a bottle at random. She opened it, sniffed at the contents, and put it back on the marble shelf, proceeding to the next one and so on until she found a tolerable smell. "It sounds as if it will be much more trouble to get Lloyd outfitted in order to use the sword. You've already gotten used to using a short sword in combat, anyway."

I exhaled. "But if I do - and it works, what happens if I leave?"

Raine processed this. "I suppose you mean leave Sylvarant? Or - this world."

I nodded. "I don't - I don't know for sure, but if anything can send me home, it'd be the Eternal Sword."

Raine examined a tin of something creamy and floral before setting it aside. "And you worry that, should you leave, Origin's influence over the two worlds - or in this case, one world - will be impaired."

I climbed awkwardly into the massive tub, taking up the seat opposite Raine's - there was still at least a person's length between us.

"I don't want anything to happen to you guys. And Lloyd's the one who does it in the story. I think it might have to be him - he has a special Exsphere, and I think it helps him awaken the Seed and stuff." Raine nodded, passing me a bottle of something that smelled of vanilla. "I don't know what my Exsphere even is, and I don't wanna risk getting it wrong just to save some time."

"We know so little about how any of this works," Raine lamented. "It may be that belief is enough - but we can't be sure. We don't even know what it is that makes Sheena eligible to make pacts, and she won't divulge such personal secrets."

"That's another thing that's been bothering me," I said, picking at a bit of particularly matted hair, "If Kratos has a pact with Origin, and Lloyd can make one with him, too... What is it that makes that possible, but none of us could contract a Summon Spirit? 'Cause we know for sure there hasn't  _ been _ anyone else contracted to them for a long time, so we know it's not some kind of family tradition."

"I think," said Raine, eyebrow raised, "That you may be overthinking it. Sheena did say others in her village make pacts with less powerful entities - elemental spirits or other manifestations. That's what her guardians are."

"...Okay, but what makes that different from making a pact with a monster?"

Raine smiled. "I don't know that there is one." After a moment, she turned off the roaring faucet - there was more than enough hot water between us. "Edie, do you think you  _ can _ go back?"

I swallowed painfully.

"I... don't know," I admitted, after too long a pause. "But I have to try, right?"

Raine sunk back, eyes closing. "I don't know if you ever told me about your family," she said, leadingly.

I'd promised Raine I'd tell her everything, once. Within reason. But I'd interpreted that as interest in what I knew - what my secrets were. I'd been a chronic oversharer, once, but bartending had beaten that out of me. Still, Raine had told me about herself. Not much - but she'd told me. 

"I'm the youngest of three sisters," I said. "By 12 years. We weren't really close, uh. By the time I could walk and talk they'd mostly left home. My parents were older when they had me. So, it's common where I come from for kids to go off to college - higher education - far away from where they grew up, right?"

Raine nodded, if only to show she was listening.

"My oldest sister got a scholarship and went to school overseas, where she met her husband, and my next oldest sister went across the country to study, and she got married...    
And then I went maybe two hours away from home," I said, surprised to find my eyes prickling, "And everyone said how - irresponsible I was for leaving my mom all alone. How selfish I was."

"...Your father died when you were Lloyd's age, yes?"

I nodded.

"I've never been as good with people as my sisters," I admitted. "Or as smart. And by then they both had husbands and were starting families, so they'd... made themselves worthwhile, I guess, and I hadn't."

"Hm. Our worlds aren't so different, then," Raine observed. I nodded. "My mother - I don't know if she ever married our father. They fled her home village when I was young, and we traveled together as a family until my father - died? Left? I'm not sure. But when Genis was born, she brought the two of us to... I'm not certain, but I think it was a kind of portal."

"The Otherworldly Gate," I said, without thinking.

Her eyes opened. "It exists?"

"Somewhere in Tethe'alla," I said, reluctant. "I think you two are from the elf village, right? But - yeah. That's all I really know."

Raine deflated. "I - shouldn't be surprised, that you know."

"Sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry," Raine sighed. "It's just - embarrassing, I suppose."

"I feel like a voyeur," I admitted. "I don't know - much, you guys are more like... caricatures, in the story, just a limit of the medium, but I wish I didn't know things. It makes me feel more - fake? I understand if you - if it makes you uncomfortable."

Raine smiled thinly at me. "I think... Ironically, I think had you told me all of this to begin with I would have distrusted you. Knowing now what I do, it almost seems... Like an unfortunate but acceptable character flaw, like... an irritating laugh, or a tendency to breathe with your mouth open. After all, you've never tried to leverage your knowledge against me. Or anyone else I can think of."

"I did against Yuan," I said, flushing. "I - but it was better than fighting."

Raine chuckled. "Yes, it was better than fighting. Would it make you feel better if I pretended you were just clairvoyant?"

"Yes," I said. "Although, 'just clairvoyant'..."

"We live in interesting times," Raine agreed. We soaked for a while in companionable silence, before Raine seemed to remember something. "I think you said at the Tower - the story is in third-person limited, yes, with Lloyd as the focus? Then you would only know things I've said or experienced with him around, yes?"

"More or less," I agreed, bemused. "Actually, yeah, that's accurate."

Raine's smile was unusually mischievous. "Then I  _ can _ have some idea of what you do and don't know. That's comforting, in its way."

She was teasing, but it  _ was _ comforting. "You probably know as much about me as I do about you," I said. "You know, way back when we started, I had this grand idea where I'd write down a bunch of stories from my world? I even started it in a notebook."

"Oh?"

"It got completely ruined when we fought Undine," I sighed. "That's just an excuse, though. I never actually made much progress."

"You can always start again," Raine pointed out. "I'd be interested to read it. Sylvarant has one or two good compilations of folk stories I could recommend, if you wanted to study ours in kind. Although - a great number of them have been rewritten, I think, to better adhere to Martellian canon."

"Same in my world, though," I said. "Modern versions of our fairytales have the edges filed off, although - I don't think that's a bad thing. People  _ should _ be learning to be kind and not... you know, indiscriminately maim people."

"I'm sure the utility of such stories was different in the past," Raine said, amused. "Having said that, it's entirely possible that such gruesome aspects - at least in  _ our _ stories - are campfire embellishments, meant to titillate rather than - what?"

"Nothing," I giggled, "I've just never heard anyone actually say 'titillate'."

"You're ridiculous. Hm." 

"What?"

"It's frustrating," she said, after a moment, "that we traveled with Kratos all that time, and I never had the opportunity or reason to ask him about prewar society! It's so - well,  _ irresponsible _ , to think that he and the others have allowed - or  _ facilitated _ \- the destruction of what must be thousands of years of  _ fascinating _ history. Just imagine - how long must Sylvarant and Tethe'alla have been developing to reach such levels of magitechnology?"

"...A long time?" I suggested, charmed by her sudden burst of righteous indignation.

" _ Yes _ ! There  _ must _ be some store of records, somewhere, no one in their right mind would dare destroy such a wealth of written materials-" I raised my eyebrows at her, but she wasn't paying attention to me. "It must exist," she insisted. "Even if it's only preserved in a digital medium. I  _ refuse _ to believe the record of that past is reduced to oral history and a few dozen tomes."

"I'm sure there is," I agreed placidly.

She made a face at me. "Don't pretend as if you wouldn't be interested."

I grinned. "I wouldn't dare."

"You mentioned before that you pursued higher education," she said, combing back damp silver strands - we were both very clean by now, but reluctant to get out of the bath, "Was there any specific subject?"

"...Anthropology and philosophy," I said, embarrassed. "Also some study of literature and language. But I never graduated."

"You say that like it invalidates the learning you  _ did _ do."

I laughed. "Well, it's not like a degree would have helped me get a job, anyway."

"Some things, at least," Raine observed, "are universal."

* * *

"You took long enough," complained Lloyd.

Sebastian ushered us into the airy tearoom. It was dominated by a long table, draped in white and heaving with trays and towers of food and drink. Zelos and Lloyd, each as grimy as when we arrived, look rough and out of place on the plush, elegant chairs, but appearances hadn't kept them from eating well. Colette and Presea, already bathed and enrobed, were enjoying pastries and teas.

"Well, you'll have to wait a little longer," said Zelos, standing and stretching. "That's my bathroom you two colonized, y'know."

"So I shouldn't have stolen all the soap?" I asked, examining the spread with great interest. "Too bad."

"I'm sure we left it in usable condition," Raine said, amused.

Zelos grinned. "I guess I'll have to see. I'm sorry to leave so soon - I thought I'd have more time to enjoy the view." He waggled his eyebrows, obviously indicating our robes. They were quite large and concealing, so the joke felt a little forced.

"It's okay," I said, giving him a thumbs up, "I only left behind hand towels, so at least you'll get to show off."

Raine smacked my forearm, but Zelos laughed. "It's what I do best," he agreed.

"Show off?" Lloyd wondered, when Zelos had made his exit.

"Be more naked than usual," I clarified. Raine sighed. "Wh - Lloyd's eighteen! That's barely even inappropriate."

"You overestimate his maturity," grumbled Raine.

"Oh," Lloyd blinked, " _ Oh _ , so he was saying it was too bad he had to go without getting to look at you and the Professor?"

"Exactly," I agreed seriously.

"Then why didn't he let me go?" Lloyd demanded, frowning. "He could have stayed here!"

"Let's eat something, shall we?" Raine suggested, because I was in danger of actually crying. 

"Isn't this place amazing?" Colette asked, bright-eyed. I noted that her robe, already oversized, had been secured high to obscure her neck, and that she was half-holding the sleeves as she ate to keep them from slipping down. "There were so many kinds of soap, and there were flowers and blue and pink bubbles! I didn't know taking a bath could be so much fun."

"It is... too large," critiqued Presea. "But it is pretty."

"It's kind of... lonely," Lloyd said, voice quieting a little as he said it. "There were some people in suits and stuff setting out the food, but then they all went away again, and they didn't talk to Zelos at all. Sebastian seems cool, though."

"So there are actually other servants," Raine noted. "I was beginning to suspect Sebastian was a Summon Spirit."

Colette and Lloyd looked around, wide-eyed. 

"I was joking," Raine clarified.

"It must be nice to have a Summon Spirit around all the time," sighed Colette, taking the disappointment well. "I wish I had someone like Corrine! It seems so nice to have company.  _ And _ he's so cute!"

"Corrine or Sebastian?" I asked, grinning.

"It's good... to be alone sometimes," observed Presea, solemnly. "But being around people you trust is also good."

"I'll toast to that," I agreed.

Sheena joined us soon after Zelos left, squeaky clean and red-cheeked, Corrine semi-corporeal but adorned with a hand towel for appearances. A more traditional Mizuhoan tea had already been laid out for her - which seemed in equal parts to annoy and endear her.

"I'm starving," she said, dropping into her seat and reaching for a carafe of ice water. "Why does a hot bath make you so hungry?"

After Lloyd left, Sebastian re-entered, and began the process of discreetly cleaning up after our filthier friends. He was unsettlingly easy to ignore, and I found myself entirely forgetting he was there until he popped up at the corner of my vision, wiping at this or dusting that. He was an unobtrusive presence, inspiring comfort rather than awareness. I was almost always uneasy around new people, and so the effect came as a surprise. 

Maybe he really  _ was _ a Summon Spirit.

"This place is enormous," Sheena said, once she'd had a few long sips of cold water. "I almost got lost."

"You haven't been here before?" Colette asked, curious.

Sheena squinted. "The main hall, maybe? When I was younger, I think. But that might have been somewhere else - all these places look the same to me. I know the fu-" she cut herself off, and shook her head. "We visited Meltokio sometimes when I was training, but never very long."

"Zelos must have a lot of money," mused Colette.

"A lot is understating it," Sheena snorted. "The Chosen's family is probably as rich as the royal family. Probably richer, if you don't count land and stuff."

"It's just like in Sylvarant," said Colette. "We always had more than the other people in Iselia. And people would bring us gifts, and things, even when we didn't need them."

"I wouldn't say it's the  _ same, _ " Raine said, "But, yes, the Chosen's house - your grandmother's house, I suppose - was quite large, by our standards. About as large as the schoolhouse, I think."

"They built it when grandmother moved there," Colette explained, "That's why it's - it was sort of new."

"We'll see Phaidra and Frank soon enough," Raine promised, reaching across the table to squeeze Colette's hand. "I'm sure they're fine."

Colette looked down at her lap. "I'm not sure they - I'm not sure they'd be happy to see me."

Sheena, even lacking context, was immediately indignant. "Of course they would! Who wouldn't be happy to see you're alive and well?"

"But - it means I failed Sylvarant," Colette said, voice quiet.

"Sylvarant failed you," Sheena insisted, taking Colette's other hand. "This is Cruxis' fault, not yours."

Colette flushed. "I know. I'm sorry."

"Hi, sorry, I'm-"

"You used that one already," Sheena scolded. "And it wasn't funny then, either."

I gave her my best pout. "You're mean!"

"Sheena," Presea said, gently but somberly, "You shouldn't be mean."

"Children," Raine sighed, "Please." Her tone was teacherly, but she couldn't hide her smile.

* * *

After our little meal - but before the boys returned - the five of us were shown to our individual rooms. Never before on the journey had we enjoyed such a luxury, and yet here we were, each with our own lovely space and plush bed and wardrobe, chair and table. I sat down in the chair at once, admiring the broad mullioned window with its view of the garden, and for a moment I wished we could stay here forever.

Then the moment passed, and I noticed the smell.

A set of my own clothes, washed and presumably dried, had been laid out on the bed, but there was a musty smell in the air that I couldn't quite identify. I peeled back the comforter, only to find the sheets underneath were damp and sour-smelling. My own clothes, though laid out nicely, were still wet, and had the same stink to them. 

On any other day, it wouldn't have stood out to me - I was used to bad odors and damp clothes on the road. But everything else had been so pristine, so perfect.

I didn't want to think anything of it - but the longer I stood there, the more I could see the signs of neglect. There was a thin, greasy layer of dust on the bedside table, a sticky stiffness to the carpet, and the water in the washbowl was oily and cold. I was being ridiculous, of course - Zelos hadn't been home in over a month, and it made no sense for him to have his guest rooms always prepared, and yet...

I inspected my backpack for signs of tampering, but it was untouched - maybe because of all the sharpened metal and poison - and hitched it over one shoulder.

I went to inspect Raine's room first.

I knew at once that I'd been right. It wasn't at all a triumphant feeling - I didn't feel vindicated, only slightly nauseous. Raine's room, identically appointed, was pristine. She was already dressed in warm, dry clothes, and the air was floral and breezy. There wasn't a speck of dust or grime in the place, and she gave me an odd look. "Comfortable?"

I swallowed. What if I was seeing things? Overreacting?

"Just a second," I said, padding out and knocking on Presea's door, next.

She was only half-dressed, her hair combed out straight on her shoulders, but she welcomed me in like we'd planned a visit. "What is the matter?" she asked, as I surveyed the room.

"Ah, nothing," I said, waving a hand. 

Sheena's room was perfect - so was Colette's.

I was surprised at how  _ bad _ it all felt. I'd thought - I'd  _ hoped _ that Zelos and I had been getting along. He'd seemed so comfortable with me; he'd even let me use his bathroom! But, now I recalled it, Raine had volunteered the two of us to go together. 

My hands felt very cold, and my heart was thumping - over what, a damp sheet? A bit of mildew? 

I felt sick. But - what could I say? Zelos was giving me food and board - I could hardly complain about the  _ quality _ . That was what I'd decided - to just deal with it - right up until I opened the wardrobe and found the dead rat.

I liked rats. It was impossible not to feel sorry for it - as it hadn't gotten into the wardrobe on its own, which was in pristine condition. Someone had chucked it in there on purpose, dead or alive, and now it was just there, small and grey and sad. I dropped my backpack on the ground, fished around for a rag, and scooped up the little body, wondering idly if I was going to cry. I probably would, but it was too demoralizing to start now, and so I hung on to that feeling of freezing cold.

The bathroom Raine and I had used was on the same floor. I didn't encounter anyone in the hall to stop me. I knocked.

"-Hmm? S'open!"

I opened the door; a wave of humid air washed over me. 

Zelos was lounging in the bath, dark hair gathered over one shoulder. It took him a moment to realize I wasn't Sebastian or a maid, and he flailed for a moment, apparently torn between standing up in alarm and dunking himself in an attempt to hide. It would have been funny, if I'd been in any other mood - especially when he slipped and fell slightly sideways, displacing a small waterfall out over the edge and unmooring several bottles of liquid soap.

"Geez, you scared the crap - whoa, you okay?"

My eyes were itchy - but I really, really didn't want to cry. 

"If you have a problem with me," I said, voice frustratingly strained, "Then tell me to my  _ fucking _ face. Here's your - whatever." I'd had a vague notion of chucking the rat into the bath, but I couldn't bear it, and so I just set it on the counter near the door and made my escape, eyes stinging.

All I could remember, now, was how instinctively disgusted Zelos had been, on finding out I was a half-elf. 

I'd hit the odd snag in school, or at camp - I had a vivid memory of sitting outside a door at my own slumber party while my guests chatted about how annoying and ugly I was, another of finding the contents of my desk in the classroom bin, hair lopped off from behind on the bus ride - but I'd been young, then, and gullible, and crying my eyes out had been an acceptable response. I'd never experienced anything like it as an adult - never from someone I trusted, and never someone I couldn't return fire on.

It was so easy for me to forget I was a half-elf, because I wasn't really a half-elf. 

_ This never happened to Raine or Genis _ , said a little voice at the back of my head,  _ so maybe it's not that after all _ .

I returned to the room, changed into an old, filthy pair of trousers and a tunic, and stalked downstairs to search for my shoes. The little voice kept going - telling me that I was overreacting, that maybe Sebastian had gotten the room wrong - but none of the other rooms had been made up at all, which meant mine had to have been done up that way on purpose. A third voice, more rational, was yelling at me to calm down and speak reasonably with someone about it.

"Miss Edie?"

I half-turned. Sebastian had appeared in the foyer from a door off to the left. He had no discernable expression, although he seemed slightly confused.

"Where are my shoes?" I asked, as politely as I could manage.

"I can retrieve them," he offered. "But it may be wise to remain indoors for now. Is there some matter I can resolve for you?"

I scrubbed a hand across my scalp, trying to restrain my temper. "It's - fine. I can be invisible. I'm going to - find a room in the Gate district, or something," I decided, although I wasn't actually sure I could afford to. I just - maybe this had been a mistake. Maybe Regal's appearance had been a sign. Maybe - "Can you let Lloyd and the others know?"

"Of course," Sebastian agreed smoothly. "Are the accommodations not to your liking?"

It was impossible to tell if he was being genuine.

"I'm - it's fine. Uh. Shit," I sighed, pinching my nose. "Can you ask - can you ask Raine or someone to get my clothes? I'll - wash them myself."

"I'm sure that-"

"Hey, where are you going?"

Zelos, to my faint surprise, was at the top of the staircase, dripping wet. He had a towel around his waist and shoulders and looked harried, although maybe he was just angry with me for leaving a dead rat in his bathroom. In different circumstances - as before - I'd taken a moment to admire what was on display. Instead I just felt sick again - it was easy to imagine Zelos hating me when he was out of sight, but not so much in person.

"I'm obviously not-" I swallowed, embarrassed at having to say it aloud. "I'm not welcome here, so-"

"Yeah, what are you talking about?" Zelos demanded, descending the stairs. It was awkward to watch - he couldn't let go of the railing, or risk slipping, but he'd also done a bad job of securing the towel and so he had to kind of waddle downwards. "Well, don't come over all shy," he said, clearly frustrated. "The hell's with the dead rat?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. "It was in my wardrobe."

Zelos' expression was cloudy. "In your room?"

"And the sheets were mildewed," I went on, increasingly humiliated at how  _ petty _ it sounded. "But - everyone else's rooms were..." I trailed off. I sounded like a child, and a brat. I wondered how awkward this must be for Zelos, two years my junior - or Sebastian, who was just trying to do his job. "It's - nevermind."

"Sebastian, you know about this?"

Sebastian shook his head. "The room should have been aired to your standards, young master."

"Yeah, well, sounds like it wasn't," Zelos snapped. "Find out who made up the room, and get them out of here. I don't need staff like that."

I blanched. "Hold - fuck, don't do that, I'm sure I'm overreacting, I- shouldn't have said..." It was slowly sinking in that Zelos really wasn't responsible - or he was a much, much better actor than I gave him credit for. I didn't see Zelos as the type to shove blame off onto a servant, but if it had been a mistake, if I was remembering wrong - I knew what it was like to get fired unexpectedly, and I wouldn't have wished it on my worst enemy. 

"You-" Zelos shook his head. "Dumbass," he said, surprising me. "If someone is willing to do that, they're probably willing to do worse. I have enough shit to worry about without wondering whether or not there's a rat -  _ metaphorical _ \- in my house. I swear, you guys all have zero self-preservation."

"I'll have it dealt with," promised Sebastian. "And perhaps have another bath drawn for Miss Edie." He gave my grimy clothes a faintly disapproving look and then he was gone.

"Okay,  _ is _ he magic?" I demanded.

Zelos didn't take the bait. "What exactly was your plan after running off? It's not like you guys have money to burn, no offense."

"I'd find somewhere," I said, offended regardless.

"The whole point of coming here was for us to regroup," he continued, annoyed. "It's barely been three hours."

I exhaled. "I'm sorry, I overreacted."

"That wasn't what I meant," said Zelos, frowning. The sound of dripping water was much too loud in the tiled foyer. "Just 'cause you see the future doesn't make you invincible, y'know."

I sighed. "I'm sorry. Not - for running off," I clarified, because I could do what I liked and he could go kick rocks, "but for assuming you had something to do with it. That was - unfair."

Zelos stared at me, and then shook his head. "Yeah, it's not like I've told you that I don't like half-elves, or anything. I can't  _ possibly _ see how you'd think I might be a little - a lot a bit of an asshole." His smile was terrible to look at.

"You're an asshole," I agreed, "But you're not a dick. You wouldn't have done something like that." I exhaled. "God, I am so tired."

"Wonder why," Zelos grumbled - and at last seemed to realize he was mostly naked. "Y'know, usually girls give me a better reaction than this."

I gave him a once-over. "Sorry, I can't wolf-whistle. I'll practice for next time."

He shook his head. "Come on. I'll show you where the other bathrooms are. Regal and the brat are probably done by now."

They must have been, because Sebastian met us in the hall to escort me the rest of the way. Zelos returned to his ensuite - no doubt already de-ratted by Sebastian - and I was ushered into a smaller but equally ostentatious room. The tub, claw-footed and porcelain, was full of steaming hot water and a trolley of soaps and snacks had been set out alongside a carafe of something fizzing and cold. The only sign that it'd been used in the last hour was a set of damp footprints in the rug by the sink.

"Please relax," Sebastian told me, "And rest assured all will be taken care of."

"Uh, yeah," I agreed, feeling very tired again. "Thank you for going through so much trouble. Sorry - about the hassle, I mean."

Sebastian paused with a hand on the doorknob. 

"I cannot offer apology enough, miss," he said, apparently sincerely. "But I hope you believe that the young master would never disrespect a guest in such a cruel - and oblique - manner."

I blinked at him. "Oh. Yeah."

Sebastian smiled - the first real expression I'd seen from him all day.

* * *

The staff had maybe - just slightly - over-corrected.

"Please, don't hesitate to call if you have any problems," said Sebastian, gesturing to a tasseled bell freshly placed by the door. "I will personally handle any complaints with the same care and attention afforded to the young master. May I offer any assistance at this moment?"

I shook my head, too stunned to speak. 

"Dinner will be served at 6 in the blue room," Sebastian went on, "and Miss Raine has requested your presence once you've settled in."

I nodded. Sebastian bowed, and left, door clicking closed behind him.

I shouldn't have expected restraint, but I hadn't expected  _ this _ . 

The bedclothes had been switched out for an even more sumptuous set, now in forest green, and the pillow had been bedecked with sweets and flowers and, to my horror, a handwritten apology on behalf of the household staff for the previous state of the room. The carpet was warm and dry, and every wooden surface shone. The washbasin was filled with steaming water and outfitted with ornamental soaps and an exquisite vanity mirror, and the wardrobe, thrown open, had been hung with soft nightclothes.

My own clothes - very ragged beside the silks and linens - were clean, dry, and smelled faintly of lavender.

It was even clean under the bed.

I looked for a long time for any sign of a trick - but all I found was treats, literal and figurative. How any of this had been done in the hour or so I'd spent sulking in the bath was beyond me. That said, my sense of direction was notoriously poor - I might have been led to a different room entirely and simply failed to notice. Either way, room was perfect, and all previous wrongs had been righted.

I was at once touched and horribly embarrassed.

I dressed, combed out my hair, and ventured out to find Raine.

Her door was open, and she was seated at a little writing desk, working diligently. She looked up, and smiled thinly. "Zelos told me what happened. Has everything been taken care of?"

I flushed. "I - yeah. Does...  _ everyone _ know?" That would be... humiliating.

"Only me," Raine reassured me. "I was trying to find you. Zelos was..." she paused. "You know, he knows that Genis and I are half-elves?"

I blinked. "He does?"

She nodded. "He was furious. Not with us, obviously. With the staff. I'd prefer Genis remain ignorant of this, at least."

I nodded. "Yeah, I'd prefer if no one else knew. I - reacted really badly. I feel like an asshole."

"Language," she chastised, but without passion. "You can hardly be blamed. I'm sure in your place I would have been less - delicate, especially if Genis was also put through something like that."

"Yeah, well, better violence than running away like a little kid. I didn't cry, though," I said, sighing and dropping down, cross-legged, beside her chair. "If you ever see me crying over something so stupid, hit me."

"I won't," Raine said, dismissively, putting down her pen. "Hm. You need a trim, too," she observed, as if this was related to anything we'd been discussing. "Colette and Sheena have been taking care of it on their own, but you and the boys..." She clicked her tongue, standing and gripping my upper arm so that she could steer me into her vacated seat. "Your hair texture may be a bit of a challenge, but a cut is badly needed."

"Yeah, sure," I sighed, "Why not."

"I could do it tomorrow, if you like," Raine offered - implying that, while it could be delayed, the actual execution was inevitable.

"Nah, go for it. I normally just put it in a ponytail and kind of," I mimed a pair of scissors. "You don't need to be that precise with wavy hair."

Raine sighed. "You should take more pride in your appearance, Edie."

I craned my head to stare at her. "We're trying to save the world. I don't think anyone cares what I look like."

"Hush," Raine said, tone more or less admitting that she was scolding me for the fun of it, rather than out of conviction. "Now sit up straight."

* * *

Dinner was a surprisingly casual affair. The 'Blue Room' turned out to be more of a lounge than a dining room, although the room was certainly  _ blue _ . The walls were papered in royal blue brocade, the chairs were blue, and the lamps were decorated with sapphire glass. The blue was broken up here and there by white or gold to prevent the room taking on a gloomy atmosphere, and it was overall a very  _ pretty _ room - although not very homey.

"Your home is so pretty, Zelos!" praised Colette.

We were not all seated at one table, instead distributed on couches and cushions as if at a house party. It was certainly easier to eat at a proper dining table, but none of us were in a state or mood to pretend to be civilized. The meal was steak, potatoes and greens, and all of it was delicious.

"Thank you, my darling angel," said Zelos, absentmindedly. "Hey, Sebastian, what day is it?"

"August 25th, sir."

"Your birthday's coming up," Lloyd exclaimed, referring to Colette. "We're gonna have a party, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Zelos said, grinning. "I promised, didn't I?"

"I think we can afford to spend a week here," Raine agreed. "That's plenty of time to go over our research."

"I can be of assistance on that front," Regal volunteered. "I'm quite proficient at compiling or condensing information."

"Ew," said Lloyd, on principle.

"Well, anyway," said Zelos, "We should be able to get into the archives tomorrow. Well, maybe. I've got a plan, is all I'm saying."

"Oh? And do you plan on sharing with the class?" asked Raine, unamused.

"Nah, I'd rather wait until it works, then everyone can praise me," Zelos explained. "And if it doesn't, no one has to know."

"Worst come to worst, I can probably get in and secret out a couple books at a time," I pointed out. "It'd be a lot slower than having everyone work on it, but if we can't get stuff ironed out with the King..." I shrugged. 

"What's that guy's problem, anyway?" Genis complained. "They treated us like criminals right from the start."

"Ehh, the King's not all that bad," Zelos waved a hand, "It's the Pope that's the real problem. He's always been pushing his crap, and usually the Crown stays pretty neutral, but once the King got sick - well, you know the arena in the west part of the city? Big, round? Waaay back when they used to send prisoners to fight to the death in there, and lately the Pope's been pushing to start that up again. He's a piece of work."

"What?" demanded Sheena. "But that's - barbaric!"

Zelos shrugged. "His camp really goes for stuff like that. And he pushed through most of the anti-half-elf laws in the last twenty years, as far as I can tell. Really wrath-of-heaven type stuff."

"That's - really scary," Lloyd grimaced. 

"No wonder he wants you out of the way," remarked Raine. "It must be hard to command the full loyalty of the Church with the Chosen walking around."

"Yeah, pretty much," agreed Zelos. "But what can ya do?"

"He could be killed," suggested Presea. "I have often been to the Cathedral."

"Uh - maybe cool it on the murder thing for now," Zelos suggested.

"It's better to seek out a peaceful solution," Regal said, more reasonably. "Doing something like that would meaninglessly endanger your life, Presea."

"I'd prefer we not blithely consider assassination as a problem-solving strategy," said Raine.

"Why not?" I said, if only to point out the dissonance. "It's worked so far. Magnus, Kvar..."

"That's different, and you know it," she scolded.

"I know," I agreed, wearily. 

"So," said Genis, sweeping aside the question of morality in favor of something easier, "Where do we go next? After Meltokio, I mean?"

"Depends on Sheena, right?" Lloyd pointed out. "'Cause we have to choose one Summon Spirit to wait for last."

"Gnome," Sheena volunteered. "The Summon Spirit of Earth. I think... If we can get Aska to meet Luna, up on the Tower of Mana, that would be a good place to make the last pact, because if something goes wrong we can board the Rheairds right away.  _ And _ we know Edie can get us through the place pretty quickly."

"Hang on," I said, "By that logic, can't we just land on the roof?"

"...Oh, yeah," Sheena frowned. "I guess so. But... that leaves us with the Temple of Darkness," she gestured, drawing on an imaginary map of Tethe'alla the likely location, "And the Temple of Ice. Huh. Where's Origin's seal?" She asked me, tapping her fingers thoughtfully.

"Uh, a forest that's... in Heimdall?" I tried to remember. "...Tor... Torn?"

"Torent Forest," Raine supplied.  _ No, that's my pirating site, _ I thought, but didn't say. "The entirety of Heimdall forest and its surroundings are magically protected - we won't be able to just fly in. And..." She shook her head. "That's something we can worry about later. I'm more concerned with what you mentioned to me at Altessa's."

"...Oh!" I nodded. "Yeah, uh, you tell everyone?" Things always sounded more reasonable when Raine said them.

Raine relayed what I knew about Yggdrasill - and his penchant for pretending to be a helpless little kid.

"He may not approach us at all," Raine noted, "But in the event he does, we should be careful about what we say and do."

"But... Cruxis can't find us now, right?" asked Lloyd. "'Cause we have the shield charm things?"

"They can still track us by conventional means," Raine said, amused. "I'm sure they have informants everywhere. What's important is that we don't reveal what we know; we may have defeated Remiel, but we only survived at the Tower thanks to the Renegades. We can't be overconfident about facing Yggdrasill openly."

Lloyd's face darkened. Genis looked a little pale - it had been a very, very rough day.

"He won't be suspicious?" Zelos asked. "If we pretend not to know, I mean."

Raine directed this question at me.

"I don't think so. I think - Mithos believes he's smarter than everyone else. He doesn't think of other people as... as people, not really. I don't think he'd suspect us of knowing more than we let on. I think he probably suspects Kratos and Yuan, but only because he sees them as near-equals."

"Huh," Zelos replied. "Psychology."

"I also think - this isn't strictly related," I admitted, "but we all need to start training regularly again. We've fought a lot of monsters, recently, but I think training aggressively - the way we did before," I said, glancing meaningfully at Lloyd, "Is necessary if we're ever gonna be strong enough to take down Cruxis."

"Yeah," he agreed, nodding. "I was thinking that, too. It'll be easier now that we don't have to worry about saving energy for travel."

"I think," said Regal, looking serious, "That Sheena, Edie and I would benefit from training together. Our techniques are all very different, but we all rely on close quarters."

I sighed. "Yeah, I really need to brush up. Kuchinawa said I was awful."

Sheena blinked. "Really? I don't think you're  _ that _ bad."

"I have literally no technique," I disagreed. "I just hit stuff with a knife and sometimes it dies."

Genis snorted. "That sounds like you, yeah."

"Oh! We can all practice our magic together," suggested Colette. "One of the books I read on the boat said that a really skilled caster can work even while jumping rope!"

"That sounds... made up," Genis said.

"Or while juggling," Colette added brightly.

"That could certainly be useful," Raine agreed, humoring her. "Zelos, do you have any space suitable for training?"

" _ Do _ I," Zelos said, spreading his hands. "I sure do. There's an open-air yard and sand pit out back. You could also - well, if you wanted, you could enter in the Colosseum under a fake name. They don't really check that kinda stuff, anyway. Entering can be a bit pricey, but the payout is good."

"Are you speaking from experience?" asked Regal, radiating disapproval.

"Payout?" asked Lloyd, excited. "There's a prize?"

"Yep, ten times the entry fee," Zelos said, waggling his eyebrows.

"I don't think it's a bad idea," Sheena admitted, "But you'd have to wear a different color, Lloyd."

"...Huh? Why?"

"Actually," said Raine, ignoring this, "Edie, fighting with the limitation of little to no teleportation might prove helpful to you."

I nodded tiredly. "Yeah, it would. And I do love money."

"Oh, speaking of money," said Zelos, "I'm sending Sebastian tomorrow to pick up clothes and armor and stuff, so let him know if there's anything you wanna add, rather than replace. Don't worry about cost - I can get things through my connections a lot cheaper than you can at storefronts."

"Oh, man!" Lloyd bounced a little in his seat. "Thanks, Zelos!"

"Yeah, well," Zelos shrugged, "I can't be seen walking around with rabble like you guys."

"Ugh, can't you just accept a thank you from time to time?" Sheena said crossly. "You don't have to act like it's nothing."

"Well, then," Zelos said, "Can I have a kiss as a thank-you - don't throw food, geez!"

"Food fight?" I suggested.

" _ No _ ," Raine said, at once. "Lloyd,  _ no _ -"

* * *

The memory came to me in the middle of the night, unprompted, as things sometimes do. Bleary - but knowing I would forget it otherwise - I scribbled it out on the first piece of paper I could find, looked over my work, and went right back to bed.

* * *

"Your handwriting is atrocious," Raine said, squinting. "What is it supposed to say?"

I groaned, dropping my arms on the breakfast table and my head on my arms. I'd had a nightmare - nothing specific, but disturbing enough to mess with my sleep - and I was starting to get a migraine. "The Pope is poisoning the King," I mumbled. "I think Vharley's helping him. Damn it, you even said we should interrogate him, and I forgot. We coulda worked all this out already. Urgh."

"I also prevented you from taking other courses of action," Regal said, frowning. "I am also at fault."

"We were all eager to leave," Raine reminded us. "We'll look into what's become of him, but even if the Bishop did as he was asked, there's still a vast geographical distance between here and Toize. It may be some time before we hear anything."

"I knew the Pope was shady," remarked Zelos, "But I didn't expect  _ poison _ . That's pretty straightforward of him."

"So," I recapped, "Vharley is working with the Pope, and he's also working with Rodyle."

"He's working with Rodyle?" asked Lloyd, previously not paying us any attention. "I thought he made Edie?"

I sighed. "He did that, yeah," I propped my chin on my hands, looking glumly at my untouched cup of tea. "But he was also doing... Cruxis crystal stuff. Vharley was supplying Rodyle with Exspheres, or something...?"

"It's all rather incestuous," Raine explained, "He and Altessa first worked together on the creation of new vessels. When that failed, they moved on to experimentation with Exspheres. Presea said that Vharley was the one to put her into contact with Sybak. So, is Varley an enforcer, or a middleman? I'm interested to know how he would come into contact with the Pope, of all people."

"An enterprise touching every major city in Tethe'alla," mused Regal. "It may be that Varley's initial contact was with the Church, rather than Rodyle. But of course," he allowed, "Rodyle is also nominally connected with the Church. Either way, it's not something that could be maintained by one man."

In the game, I'd considered Vharley a kind of nothing villain - a character who was there to tie loose ends and cement connections. He'd died in a cutscene, hadn't he? I remembered because it was in that damned  _ sewer _ , of all places.

In reality, if reality reflected the story, Vharley was one of the best-connected people in Tethe'alla. He hadn't seemed clever in our brief encounter, but neither had he been physically overwhelming. If he wasn't smart, and he wasn't strong, then what was there left? A man like that didn't get so influential on accident - unless he did, and I was overthinking things. It seemed most likely that Vharley was a puppet, but whose?

"Rodyle thinks that Cruxis doesn't know what he's doing," I recalled. "But Pronyma 'tricked him'." It was the only one of his voice lines that I remembered. I hated that level - Botta's death had been so  _ stupid _ and  _ preventable _ . "So that means Yggdrasill... what, knows and doesn't care? Or is he manipulating Rodyle for some end we can't see?"

"Who's Pronyma?" asked Lloyd.

"The leader of the Five Grand Cardinals," Raine supplied. "She was also in charge of Asgard before being 'promoted' to the position. Which does imply the position was left vacant, but we don't know by whom."

"So... Since Kvar and Magnus are dead, that just leaves Forcystus, Pronyma and Rodyle, right? Forcystus runs the Iselia ranch, and Pronyma's in charge... What about Rodyle? He must have one, right?"

"It's on an island or something," I said. The thought of it made my head ache. "I can't remember where it is, but it's definitely in Sylvarant." 

Everything got so  _ complicated _ after the Tower. I knew there was stuff I wasn't remembering, but what use was that? If I'd  _ known _ this was where I'd end up, I'd have studied! I knew things were going off the rails, too, but how far and how fast?

"Well, wherever it is, we'll take care of it," Lloyd said, more for my benefit than his.

"We're going to try to get into the archives today, right?" Sheena asked, steering the conversation back on track. "If we all go, there's more chance of us getting caught."

"Can't we tell the King that he's being poisoned?" suggested Colette. "I'm sure he'd be happy if Zelos and the rest of us were able to help him. Raine's the best healer in the world, so I'm sure she'd be able to do something."

"Unfortunately," Raine said, demurring, "It's difficult to bring something like that forward without proof. If we..." She paused, glancing at me. "Edie may be able to recover information, if she can access the Cathedral. That may be a more efficient use of our time than sending her in to retrieve individual books. Does the Pope have a private residence?"

"He's got a villa, I know that," Zelos recalled, "He does all his business outta the Cathedral, but if he's smart he won't keep his dirty records with his clean ones. Or he has the expenses down as something else.  _ Or _ he doesn't keep written records, although in my experience it's the really greedy guys who like to have the numbers down on paper."

"What about Zelos' plan?" asked Lloyd.

"What  _ about _ Zelos' plan?" asked Sheena, giving Zelos himself a narrow look.

"Well, since you've put me on the spot," Zelos said, smiling lopsidedly at her, "I was gonna have Miss Angel over there put the fear of Martel into some folks. I dunno about the Pope himself, but the Papal Knights are pretty pious, and if the Chosen himself turns up with a real-life angel, threatening the wrath of heaven... Well, I think it'd cause enough of a stir to buy us some time. We could say it's the second coming of Spiritua."

"Spiritua?" repeated Genis, "Like the Chosen Spiritua?"

Zelos raised an eyebrow at him. "Chosen? Nah, the avenging angel Spiritua. She supposedly saved a Chosen by killing the Tethe'allan king - who was trying to have the Chosen killed, obviously."

"But - I won't have to kill anyone, will I?" asked Colette, deeply concerned.

"Nah, you just gotta fly a bit and look scary."

Colette frowned. "I don't know how to look scary."

"Perhaps like this?" suggested Presea, face unchanging except for a slight furrowing of the eyebrows. "I think that would strike fear."

"Look, the wings are enough," Zelos sighed. "And my expert commentary, of course."

"But if it fails," Regal pointed out, "There will be no chance of disguising our presence in the city. Even if you inspire a supporting faction, will they disobey the word of their King and Pope?"

"It's a...  _ decent _ back-up plan," Raine permitted. "But Regal's right. I'd prefer to start with a subtle approach, as long as we have the option."

I propped my chin on my hand. "So, breaking and entering?"

"I'd prefer if you didn't break anything," Raine said, but she was smiling.

"What about the rest of us?" asked Genis. "Even if we're just walking around the city, Lloyd's pretty eye-catching. Zelos, too."

"I had Sebastian find us some more civilian clothing," Zelos assured him. "There's nothing I can do to disguise my radiant beauty, but I  _ am _ capable of going incognito. I wouldn't have survived in this city, otherwise."

"We could break your nose," Sheena muttered.

"Agh, so violent," Zelos tutted, "Very unladylike."

"There are several other institutions of learning in the city, as well as repositories of knowledge," Regal said, "We may be able to discreetly gather information elsewhere while Edie... works."

"I didn't get that first part," Lloyd admitted, "But you mean that the rest of us could go around and ask people stuff, right?" He grinned. "Yeah, that sounds like fun! We barely got to see any of the city last time."

"'Discreetly'," Raine echoed, sighing. "Well, we can at least go in pairs."

"Hey, wait," I protested, "You guys get to go goof off and leave me alone? That's so unfair."

"Corrine can go with you," Sheena offered. "He can come and get me if something goes wrong."

"What would we be able to do, anyway?" Genis asked, rhetorically. "Besides, it can't be more dangerous than infiltrating the Asgard Ranch."

Raine gave a sudden laugh, and then coughed, embarrassed, as everyone looked over to her.

"It's just unusual," she explained, a tad defensively, "for us to have time to plan. In a situation like this, I feel that we'd usually just through Lloyd or Edie at it and hope for the best."

"How's that different from what's happening now?" I asked, snorting. "Let's forget it and just send Lloyd in! That almost always works."

Lloyd blinked between us. "I mean, if you think that's a good idea."

Genis sighed. "Lloyd, I swear you're doing that on purpose."

* * *

I'd more-or-less shoehorned myself into the position of party rogue, but that didn't mean I didn't get lonely!

"It's too hot," Corrine complained, "Can't I ride on your shoulder or something?"

I side-stepped a pedestrian, narrowly avoided an oncoming cart, and weaved around a crowd of chattering ladies; although it was early morning, the plaza, all white marble and orange trees, was thronged with people. Being invisible didn't stop me from running into people, and navigating such a densely crowded space was irritating, especially in the heat. Corrine, spectral though he may be, was radiating warmth, and I wasn't much happier than he was.

"It's too hard to maintain like that," I said, dancing around a procession of worshippers and taking refuge on a high brick wall. A lot of the fancier construction in Meltokio had some elements of antisocial architecture - spurs, spikes, oddly slanted surfaces - that made it unusually difficult for me to navigate. Martel's infinite love was not extended gladly to the homeless, at least not where it might unnerve the wealthy.

Now, where to start?

The Cathedral, as seen from the outside, was split into four parts.

The massive domed nave, the area we'd visited before, was the only part accessible to the general public, and was by far the most visually impactful. From that central mass grew two rectangular buildings, one extending west and one north - huge, but slightly less ornamented. The last part easily seen from the street was the bell tower with its rose window, positioned at the far end of the northern section, and easily double the height of the already enormous dome.

I was bad with estimating crowds, but I figured that, between the square and the basilica, you could probably fit the entire population of Meltokio into this one building.

"It's too big," Corrine argued. "How are we supposed to find anything?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. But we have to try."

My suite of abilities did not automatically make me a good cat burglar, but the strength and dexterity afforded by my Exsphere went a long way towards bridging the gap. 

Our mission began.

Asgard Ranch had been a fortress, but it'd been minimally and efficiently maintained. The Cathedral was by comparison formidable, every inch covered in deterrents, simple and mechanical. Some were even magical, although my rudimentary grasp of enchantment revealed many of them to be there for show, rather than functional; kind of like getting a security company sticker for your window but not bothering with the system itself.

"I think you should go to the left building first," Corrine advised, when we had done two full circuits. There were no obvious outside markers to indicate where the administrative section was - we'd just have to go inside and  _ look _ , which was a lot harder.

"Why?" I asked, although I took off west down the roofline to do just that. Corrine wasn't the type to say things just to fill the silence.

"Well, the north part leads to the bell tower, so people are going to be walking up and down it, right? The west part's bound to be more private," Corrine argued. "Anyway, you should always start on the left in a maze."

I lowered myself down onto a shallow window ledge, double-checked the frame for obvious deterrents, and stepped into a plain little room, unfurnished except for several stacks of wooden chairs. It smelled like old paper, but there were no bookshelves or desks. Still, the smell was probably a good sign.

"Well, dammit," I grumbled, jostling the door. "All doors should have windows. This is dumb."

"Don't you know how to pick a lock?" asked Corrine, incredulous.

"I don't know how many times I have to say it," I mumbled, pressing my eye against the keyhole and trying to get a look into the hallway beyond. "I'm not  _ actually _ a thief. Anyway, that's kind of Lloyd's area of expertise."

"It's still a useful skill," Corrine said. "I can teach you how, if you've got a hairpin or some metal."

I squinted, ocular bone pressing painfully against the wood. "I think I can get through this one without it, but if it comes up... Hold on."

In the hallway, Corrine groaned loudly.

"Quiet," I whispered, although I was feeling a bit nauseous myself. "Ugh."

"That was awful," Corrine hissed, "I felt like I was being crushed to death!"

"Well, it  _ was  _ just a keyhole," I said, steadying myself and taking a look around. "It's bound to be a weird trip."

"But you can go through windows no problem," Corrine replied. The hall was deserted, and so I made my way west, as Corrine had suggested. If I had to brute-force this and examine every room in the Cathedral one by one, then I would. "And that doesn't feel nearly as bad."

"I think it's a visualization thing," I guessed, trying the next door and finding it mercifully unlocked. It was clearly an office of some sort - so we were on the right path - but not nearly ostentatious enough to be the Pope's. "I have to be able to see where I'm going, and since a keyhole is so small... Ah, okay," I said, riffling through a folder on the desk. "Sheet music. Do you think the Pope's door will look different?"

"Probably," Corrine agreed. "But if it's just visualizing, couldn't you just... imagine a place, and go there?"

We checked the next room, and the next, both unlocked.

"Maybe?" I hedged. That really would be like Nightcrawler - but it also sounded really dangerous. "But it's like... you wouldn't want to walk around with your eyes closed, right? You'd run into something."

"Sheena can fight in the dark," chastised Corrine. "Well, mostly. She had to train with a blindfold on and everything!"

"Well, I'm not Sheena," I said. "I don't want to end up... stuck in a wall, or in a person, or something."

"That does sound messy," Corrine agreed. We circled the end of the corridor and started making our way back up the other side. We were on the third or fourth floor - I'd neglected to count - so it'd probably be a while. 

We did eventually open up onto an occupied room. It was a small library - full of prayer books and hymnals, at a glance - with two young men re-shelving a cart of thin booklets. They startled, but we were invisible, and people were good at rationalizing things like doors opening on their own. Old buildings are strange, after all.

"Ah," said one, "must have been a draft."

We left before they could close the door again, and continued our search.

"How are people so stupid?" Corrine wondered. "You'd think they'd notice. Or hear your footsteps. You're pretty loud, you know."

"I'm quiet for someone who's not a ninja," I replied. "And why would they? It's not like invisible people are a big part of everyday life."

"Yes, well - shhh," Corrine interrupted himself. I felt it, rather than heard it - the scrape of stone on the floor below this one, heavy and muted. "That sure didn't sound like a wooden door," he hissed, a few moments after the faint vibrations ceased. A moment later, we were both startled by the cacophony of church bells, and the sound of many people moving in our direction. 

"Guess class is over," I mumbled, as the first figure rounded the staircase up ahead. There was a veritable crowd of men and women, all in simple vestments, and they were clearly transitioning from one activity to another - there  _ had _ been a service going on in the nave, but I'd assumed that kind of thing went on all day! There were a lot of them, and this wasn't a huge hallway. I had a sudden wild image of myself suspended on the ceiling, secret agent-style, but I'd never tried and now seemed like a bad time to experiment. "Screw it."

I hooked right through an unlocked door - one we'd already inspected and found empty - and paused to consider my options.

"We can go down one floor, and see what that noise was," Corrine suggested.

I nodded, clambering indelicately back out onto the building exterior and lowering us (going up was easier and faster than going down, for some reason) to the floor below.

The windows on this floor were barred - but that wasn't really a problem. Unfortunately, in my dash to avoid the crowd, I'd went out a window on the wrong side of the building from the mysterious stone scraping, and so we'd have to make it back through to the other side. I wasn't willing to climb all the way up and over again - I had  _ some _ limitations.

"...The rooms on this floor do seem fancier," Corrine admitted. "Maybe we should have started at the bottom."

"Isn't being high up more... prestigious?" I asked. That's what I'd assumed - penthouses were more exclusive, weren't they?

"No, it just means you have to climb more stairs," said Corrine, wisely. 

We waited for the hubbub to die down - for whatever transitional period the building had entered to end - before venturing back out into the corridor. It was a much fancier hallway than the one above, which had been simple wood and plaster - this one had tiling and decorative woodwork. Some of the doors even had windows, although they were dinky little half-moon ones well above eye height, and hard for me to use. 

"I think it was around here," Corrine whispered. I pressed myself to the wall to let a small gaggle of older men pass - and then resumed the investigation. 

"Even the Desians had a room directory," I complained. " _ This _ is barbaric."

"You're probably supposed to just know it," Corrine said, and then hissed, "Shh, look!"

I hushed, although speaking didn't usually impede my ability to see. 

The door in question was visibly sturdier and more ornate than those on either side. There was a tiny golden sigil of Martel inlaid where another door might have a peephole, and the doorknob, on closer inspection, was crystal. The patterns in the woodwork might have been ornamental, but they also looked vaguely magical, and there was no keyhole. I looked up and down the hall, sighed, and dropped down, flattening myself against the tile in an attempt to see  _ under _ the door.

"What can you see?" asked Corrine.

"Carpet," I mumbled. "I don't see much, but..."

"At least try the handle," chastised Corrine. 

I did - with a gloved hand - but it didn't even  _ jostle _ . 

"I think I'm gonna have to try," I said, apologetically.

"Well, fine, but be careful."

I pressed my face harder still against the floor, neck aching with the effort, until I could see a likely slice of space - just the barest hint of unoccupied air above the plush red carpet. It would have to do.

We landed with a very loud  _ clonk _ , the sound of breaking china, and several disparate thumps.

I'd materialized under a little tea table - or perhaps clipped through, it was hard to tell - and the interaction had thrown the table and its contents in just about every direction. The table itself had been launched hard against a wall - thankfully one quilted with silk or satin - and the sugar bowl, teapot and other paraphernalia had been pitched upwards, seemingly at random. Sugar had gone everywhere - a silver spoon was still rattling on a patch of bare floor.

"It's okay," said Corrine, after a long, horrific moment. "No one's here."

"That was loud," I hissed, rubbing the top of my head. I hadn't felt any kind of collision at all, but it seemed like the kind of thing you were supposed to do. I felt a little dizzy.

"Well, no one's come running," Corrine observed. "Huh. This place is fancy."

That was understating it. 

The office - and it had to be, with the desk and big chair and papers - made Zelos' mansion look positively  _ restrained _ . Every inch of it seemed to be jeweled or carved or gilded; the ceiling was painted with a fresco of angels and lined with gold wainscoting, like an enormous picture frame, and all the furniture had curlicued or footed ornamentation. There were no windows, but the two chandeliers were aglow with something other than candles that cast the room in daylight.

There were bookshelves, a few less elaborate chairs for visitors, a buffet, shelves of glass trinkets and ornate urns, a wardrobe - every inch of it reeking in expense.

"If this isn't the Pope's office," I said, "then I'd hate to see what his is like."

"Wedge a chair under the handle," Corrine advised, wriggling out of my shirtfront and hopping down onto the desk, suddenly visible. "This paperweight has gems on it!"

I did as he told me. "There's not a lot of stone in here," I observed. "Maybe it was the next room down?"

"Maybe," Corrine allowed. "This room is kind of... Long, but narrow, right?"

"I think that's all the bookshelves," I said, bending to pick up a silver censer that had been a casualty of our arrival. "Geez. This place is..."

"It smells a little funny in here," Corrine said, nose quivering. "Like wet rock."

I sniffed. "I can't smell it, but you're probably right. Hm." I tried one of the desk drawers. "I guess it's not surprising that they're locked."

"I can show you how to pick them, if you want," Corrine said, brightly. He sounded excited about the idea.

"Yeah, okay," I allowed, digging around in my pockets. I had to become visible in order to sort out the contents - they were invisible to me, too. "Uhh." I held up a length of thin steel. I didn't remember where I'd gotten it, but it vaguely reminded me of something Desian - maybe a a piece of robot? I had some other promising bits of metal, filched from who knows where, and presented each in turn to Corrine until he decided on a pair. "So these'll do?"

"Yep!" Corrine agreed. "Okay, it has a lot to do with feel, so you'll have to be patient."

My experience with lockpicking was limited to Bethesda games - and those pinhole locks you could undo by sticking in the interior of a pen - but Corrine was a patient teacher, and after one or two drawers I started to get the hang of it. 

"See? You're a natural thief after all," Corrine said, smug.

"You shush," I mumbled, too pleased with myself to really be annoyed.

We combed over first the contents of the desk, then of the fancy filing cabinet. I wasted no energy on invisibility - if someone tried to get in, we'd know with plenty of time. It was just a matter of being thorough.

There was no doubt now that this was the Pope's office - but it was unfortunately low on manila envelopes labeled  _ TOP SECRET _ in big red letters.

At last, I turned to the bookshelf.

"Oh, surely not," I grumbled, eyes scanning the shelves. "Corrine, do you smell the wet stone strongly over here?"

He sniffed the air. "Hm. Yep, definitely."

I came around the side of the leftmost shelf, and groaned. How dumb was I? I should have recognized the odd gap in ornamentation - and, now that I was up close, the scuffs on the tile floor. The bookshelf was about the right height and width for a door, with enough clearance behind the desk to permit someone to slide it sideways. An inspection of the base revealed a set of well-hidden tracks - of  _ course _ it was a stupid  _ bookshelf. _

"This is so cliche," I complained, running my hand along each row of books and dislodging each in turn. The culprit turned out to be  _ Historia Regia Tethe'alla _ , a sturdy tome with a green fabric cover. I pulled it, the spine tilting outwards, and there was a heavy  _ click _ .

"It was behind a bookshelf?" mused Corrine. "That's unexpected."

The shallow stone room beyond the door was a mess of cabinets and shelving above a small desk. To the right, there was a stone staircase, drafty and plain, magitech lamps hung haphazardly on the skeletons of old braziers. Anyone below on the staircase would easily overhear us, but the same was true in reverse.

Now that we were actually here - and so much of what I saw at first glance was obviously incriminating - we felt the urge to rush. 

Anyone entering this room after us would know beyond a doubt that the place had been tampered with. Anyone with brains would respond by increasing security to the room - possibly via methods I couldn't circumvent. If we were going to find anything, it'd have to be now. 

Corrine was somewhat limited in utility here by his lack of opposable thumbs, but he more than made up for it with his nose. While I sorted through the loose papers, journals, logs and folders, Corrine unearthed a long wooden box, bound in metal and locked tight. "Smells like medicine," he said, nose crinkling in distaste. "It might be something else, but..." 

I took the box, put it on the edge of the desk, and aligned one of my less-beloved daggers with the lock. I put one of my feet up on the box to keep it steady, balanced a book on the back of the dagger handle, and slammed down my free hand. The plate sheared from the wood, the body of the lock now easily worked free. Delicate lock-picking was hard, but destructive lock-picking was dead easy.

The box contained two crystal phials, one of dull, grey-white powder, and the other a few dozen pressed tablets, each a deep blue.

"Well. Looks suspicious?" I shrugged.

"Sure smells funny."

"One minute," I muttered. "Who's Guillaume?"

"...The King?" replied Corrine. "He  _ has _ got a name, you know."

I showed him the paper that had been wedged in the lining of the box. "Dosages. And dates. But - that doesn't prove anything." I looked down at the desk, gnawing at my lip. I didn't want to go through all this hassle just to bring back something circumstantial - and I wasn't smart enough to suss out the important documents from the mess of numbers. If there was any one perfect piece of evidence, I wasn't going to find it. "Ah, fuck it," I said, sighing, "Let's just take everything." 

Corrine paced as I finished shoving all I could carry into my bursting backpack, nibbling on sugar cubes. Then the church bells rang.

I wasn't concerned right up until the doorknob rattled.

"Well, crud."

Corrine leapt after me, winding around my neck as I clawed for the interior lever of the hidden room - it was just near the sliding door. The person at the other door moved to thumping - probably not a guest, if they hadn't bothered knocking. The bookshelf door was still grinding into place when I heard the wooden chair begin to splinter.

We hurried down the staircase, invisible. I absently counted the flights - one, two, three - until we were almost certainly below ground level. We found another switch, emerged into a featureless stone room and then a featureless stone tunnel. It wasn't a natural tunnel - the floor and ceiling were perfectly level. It was completely unlit, but I'd learned Raine's light trick ages ago.

"...Well," I said, after a good half-hour of following the left-most tunnel, "I'm lost."

"We'll get out," Corrine assured me. "The left-hand trick always works."

The left-hand trick ended up sending us another fifteen minutes in the direction of a collapsed tunnel, meaning we had to spend another forty-five just to make it back the way we came. I was awful at orienting myself by direction - if the door had been on the northernmost wall, then - yes, we had been heading west, to the outskirts of the city. Now we were heading back inwards. But where?

'Where' turned out to be a galling ten minutes from the staircase, just in the other direction.

"I really hate this guy," I sighed, wrestling with the latch of a heavy iron door. "Why are there even tunnels under the city? That aren't for sewage," I revised. 

The door looked like the kind to creak ominously, but it was deceptively well-oiled. It let out into a little closet, and from there into a cramped, long gallery of shelves and shelves of armor, weapons, and associated equipment. It was plain to see that it was an armory, and almost certainly meant for the Papal Knights - most of the helmets had plumes or stupid ornaments. The far door was locked, as I should have expected.

"...The lock's a different kind," I mumbled, squinting. "There's not a keyhole." I examined the edges of the doors, but that was no good, either. "I can't see under the door, either. There aren't any cracks."

"Oh, no," Corrine muttered, "There must be a padlock on the other side. You can't see through at all?"

I made a minute sound of distress. "It's an armory door. I shouldn't be surprised."

"Maybe you could go back up through the office?" suggested Corrine. 

"Maybe," I hesitated, gnawing on the first knuckle of my hand. "I have an idea, but you should probably go back first in case... it doesn't work?"

"You could just make a lot of noise until someone opens the door," Corrine pointed out.

That was the sensible option - but it seemed more likely we'd be boxed in on both sides. The Knights might hesitate to kill Zelos' companions, but some half-elf skulking about in their armory? I could win, in the right circumstances, but these  _ weren't _ the right circumstances. I shook my head. "You head back, and let the others know where I am if I'm not back in an hour, okay?"

"Nuh-uh," Corrine refused. "You're gonna do something stupid."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Remember what you said about visualization? If I can picture the place I want to come out, then maybe..."

"You said that was a stupid idea," Corrine reminded me. "It's a bad idea! I'll get the others, and you hide here."

"I think it might work, though," I said, heart racing. "I've seen other people do it. If I can..."

"You're not even listening to me," Corrine sighed. "Well, take me with you."

"I - no," I said, snapping out of the fugue for a moment. "If I mess up, you'll definitely get hurt."

"Well, you won't mess up," said Corrine, with surprising confidence. "I'll be here to help, right?"

"How are you going to help?" I asked, laughing breathlessly at the ridiculousness of all this.

"Moral support," Corrine said. "Now come on. Either we both go or we both stay."

I exhaled. "Well, if we both die, then Sheena can't kill me. Make sure you're holding on tight."

"Rodger!"

I closed my eyes.

If we were in the castle - and I was pretty sure we were - then the nearest thing I could picture was the servant's entrance. That was still pretty far - I wasn't sure where in the castle we were, and it wasn't like it was a little cottage. But Yuan had managed to get far enough from me in that clearing, once upon a time, that even Kratos hadn't been able to track him, so it had to be  _ possible _ . It was just magic, after all.

I lurched forward, and then I opened my eyes.

"Hm. Well, shit," I said.

The world below was a mass of writhing clouds, the color indeterminate. The world above was much the same. These two planes stretched away from us in every direction, fuzzing after some distance into indistinct haze with no up or down nor form at all. I had the overwhelming sense of being watched, although we were alone. I felt as if I was standing on fine sand - and that I was sinking.

"This is unusual."

The thing around my neck was not Corrine - it was too big, too wild, although it felt the same. I could still feel the cold of Corrine's bell where he was pressed against me - but the creature on my shoulders was made from something other than fur. His voice was richer than Corrine's, a spectrum of tones that nonetheless contained Corrine's familiar alto - but it wasn't Corrine.

"Uh. Who are you?" I asked, feeling very vulnerable.

"I don't know yet," not-Corrine said. "But I'm growing. Part of me is Corrine, if that's what you're asking."

"...Sure," I agreed. "Do you know where we are?"

"Yes," he said at once, "the Spirit world. The world of monsters, too."

"Okay," I said. "Uh. How do I leave?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "I don't think you're supposed to be here."

"Yeah, I'm getting that," I mumbled. I felt oddly boneless - a whole-body lightness that presaged something very unhealthy. I lifted a hand to my face - it was translucent, and seemed to leave after-images behind it as it moved. I could see my bones! That probably wasn't good. "Sheena's gonna be so mad."

"I'm not sure that should be your primary concern," said not-Corrine. "Maybe try to depart as you arrived? Imagine your destination and... go."

I craned my head. "Do you see that?"

There was a figure, tall, indistinct, just visible in the distance.

"Yes."

"I think it's walking towards me."

"Yes, I think so, too. You should go."

"Oh. Right. Where, again?"

Not-Corrine sighed. It was a very strange sound. 

"How about the foyer?"

The foyer. I nodded. I closed my eyes - which did nothing to obscure my surroundings, but did help me concentrate - and lifted a foot. It felt very, very heavy, like I was dragging a weight - and then I put it down again on marble tile.

The world became real; the foyer of Zelos' palatial home appeared around me, or rather, I appeared within  _ it _ . 

For a moment I wobbled - my back foot was still uncertain about the idea of solid floors, and the heel of my boot phased momentarily through the marble - but then I righted myself, both feet on solid ground, the air snapping back with the force of my sudden interjection into its space. I held both arms out, and found them corporeal.

I'd done it. I'd done it, and I wasn't dead!

The thing that had been Corrine leapt down from my shoulders, light as a housecat and larger than a brown bear. Corrine's bell still hung around its neck, alongside the amethyst lightning charm - but there were twice as many spectral tails waving from its hindquarters. It examined itself - the long legs, the motes of fox-fire that drifted from its fur with every moment - and then it looked at me, black eyes blinking.

"...Well," it said, "That was unexpected."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> psst! hey, kid! (waves you into darkened alley) you want indulgent garbage? have i got the chapter for you. (opens trenchcoat, revealing many copies of TTGTA) ey... yours for the price of free, kid. just leave me a comment! (winks roguishly) - ritz  
> today's edie song is "out of body" by the gorillaz (et all)


	22. Zelos' Mansion, The Archives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for non-explicit discussion of sex (this is funnier than it sounds).

Sebastian showed up in the foyer not long after we did, although he used a door.

"...Miss Edie?"

I waved from my spot on the hearth rug. I still had no idea what monster had been skinned for the sake of interior design, but it was soft, and I was the sort of exhausted where the best place to rest was on the ground. Corrine was examining his new form in one of the oversized hall mirrors, and my overstuffed bag of stolen documents was resting in more-or-less the spot we'd landed. 

"Are you quite well?" Sebastian asked, betraying only mild concern.

"Not sure," I admitted. "But I'm just gonna kind of lie here until I figure it out."

"Might I bring you a drink? Tea or water, perhaps?"

I considered this. "No, thank you."

"I shall inform your companions that you have returned," he said, after a brief pause.

I nodded.

I felt - not bad, but not good, either. My body didn't seem to have any weight or substance to it, although I could see that it was here, and that nothing dreadful had happened on the trip over. I wasn't numb, either, because in my experience numbness came with a heaviness as the body resisted its own mass - this was more like the softness of waking after a very good sleep, except that my mind was clear. I wasn't sure that I could get up, now that I'd laid down.

Corrine padded over, huffed a breath, and dropped onto his belly. 

"Well, at least we were able to get the information," he said, kindly.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Sheena's going to kill me."

"I think that's unlikely," he disagreed. "I think I will be able to explain things."

"Oh, good," I replied. "Why do I feel like I'm made of clouds?"

"...I'm not entirely sure," he admitted. "But I think it's because a large part of your physical mass has been converted into pure mana."

If I could have, I would have been up like a shot. As it was, I replied, "...Hm?"

"You're changing back now," he reassured me. "I'm not exactly sure how. When I was first Summoned, I had to rely on Sheena's magic to anchor me to the material world. I'd like to see her soon," he added, sounding almost worried. "I'm not sure I can sustain this form without her."

"Why are you all... talk good, now," I mumbled, latching onto something trivial to avoid having to think seriously.

"I am - more," Corrine theorized. "There is more of me to think, and that knows things. I can talk more casually, if it'd make you more comfortable."

"Am I dying?" I wondered.

"...I don't  _ think _ so," he offered.

"What in the world-" Raine's voice drifted down from the balcony. "Edie? ...Corrine?"

"Hi," I called. Corrine sat up, tails waving. 

"Is Sheena here?"

"...No," Raine replied, slowing as she approached us. Regal and Genis drifted a little behind her, at varying levels of interest and confusion. "She and the others are still out. We've been working here," she explained, unnecessarily. "I don't suppose you can  _ explain _ ..." She waved a hand at Corrine, "This?"

"Not really," I admitted.

"We were able to retrieve a great deal of information," Corrine supplied, nodding towards the haphazard pile of spilled papers. "Including what I think may be some of the poison and an antidote. Have you had any luck on your end?"

"...Er, a little," Raine said, obviously unsettled. "You...  _ are _ Corrine, aren't you?"

"I am, and I am not," Corrine said unhelpfully. "Hello, Genis, Regal."

"Uh... hi," Genis said. "Why are you... big, now?"

"Why are you lying on the floor?" Raine directed at me, taking my approach and focusing on the more manageable problems. "There's a perfectly good sofa right there."

"It's soft down here," I said, by way of explanation. "The others aren't back yet?"

"No," Raine agreed, "But they  _ were _ planning to do a great deal of... exploring..."

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" asked Corrine, concerned.

"...Not at all," Raine said. The silence stretched. 

"Oh, no," I mumbled, "Raine, control yourself."

"What's the matter?" asked Regal, looking between Raine and Corrine with great confusion.

"Now, Corrine," Raine said, suddenly coaxing, "I know you dislike tests, but surely a sample or two wouldn't be out of the question-"

"I've got her," Genis cried, heroically seizing his sister by one arm, "Corrine, run!"

"I haven't even done anything yet!"

* * *

The rest of the party arrived back at Zelos' in the early evening.

"Another guest, Master Zelos?" Sebastian prompted. The group of 5 had, since this morning, become 6. The new arrival was shepherded into the foyer with exaggerated discretion - after all, a group of six people moving together could only be so covert, especially when that group included Lloyd and Colette. "Shall I have another room made up?"

"Yeah, do that," Zelos agreed. "Dinner?"

"It will be ready promptly," Sebastian promised. 

"I - that's not really necessary," said the newcomer. She was pretty, but visibly roughed up - dark teal hair, smudged glasses, and a neat, practical outfit that had gone far too long without washing. Her shoulders were hunched in a way that suggested defensiveness, rather than poor posture, and her eyes were never raised above waist-height. Her bare wrists were bruised and reddened.

"Of course it is," urged Colette. "I can show you where the bathrooms are, if you want! They're really, really nice."

Sheena was the first to notice our arrangement near the hearth - books and papers strewn everywhere and Raine still visibly sulking. Corrine was stretched out beside me on the hide rug, tails flicking at odd intervals. He noticed Sheena at about the same time, and leapt up, black eyes wide with excitement. He bounded towards her, scattering the fresh arrivals like a flock of pigeons. Sheena, made of sterner stuff, or perhaps recognizing her partner, held her ground.

"Sheena!" he exclaimed, "You're back!"

"C-corrine?" Sheena asked, staring at him in amazement. She lifted a hand, and he pressed his long face to her palm, eyes closing in contentment. He seemed to become more substantial, extremities less translucent as Sheena stood there, bewildered. "What... You're Corrine, right? What - why are you big?"

"It's a long story," he assured her. "I'm sure we can discuss it after everyone has been settled in. I'm so relieved to see you."

"I - sure," Sheena said weakly. "I haven't been gone that long, you know."

"Speaking of which," Raine interrupted this touching moment, "Who is this?"

"Oh!" Lloyd brightened. "This is Kate. She saved us way back when we were arrested at Sybak."

"Kate was imprisoned because of our actions," explained Presea, expression grave. "We discovered from Sheena's friends at the Elemental Research Laboratory that she had been slated for execution. We could not permit such a thing to happen."

"I got to fight in the Colosseum," Lloyd volunteered. "Only the first round, though. Why is Corrine... huge?"

"Guys, guys," Zelos waved a hand. "Miss Kate's had a pretty crummy day. Colette, why don't you show her to the Rose Room, and then the rest of us can talk about..." He gestured helplessly at Corrine, "Whatever. Sebastian, a quick word?" Sebastian - who I had thought gone off elsewhere - nodded and retreated for a moment with Zelos, where they spoke quietly for a minute or two. Whatever it was, Sebastian soon departed, Colette and Kate following close behind. "Okay," Zelos sighed. "What?"

"You broke someone out of jail?" Genis asked, curious. "She's a half-elf, isn't she?"

"Her status is irrelevant," Presea said seriously, "She required our assistance, and we were able to give it."

"I wasn't saying-" Genis flushed. "It's good you guys helped her."

"To free an innocent from bondage is no small feat," Regal agreed.

I sighed. Regal could exhaust me in so few words.

"I suppose there had to be some repercussions," Raine observed. "I'd criticize you for being reckless, but there's hardly any point in doing so now. I trust you were able to carry out this... prison break," she said, eyebrow raised, "without drawing too much attention to yourselves?"

"Yeah, it was no problem," Lloyd said. Zelos waggled a hand to indicate otherwise.

"No one could prove for  _ sure _ it was us," he offered, as a peace offering. "Look, they were gonna do it whether I agreed to it or not."

"I'm familiar with the phenomenon," Raine agreed. "At least everyone seems to have come through it in one piece. Were you able to achieve anything else today, or was it entirely a rescue mission?"

"Hey, Lloyd and I did some real work this morning," Zelos protested. "We're pretty sure we know where Vharley is, to start with - sounds like he's being held in Altamira on treason charges, but who knows if they'll stick. Even if they do, and he gets shipped over here for trial, that's a lotta time for him to weasel his way out of things. He used to be a Papal Knight, too, by the way."

"Altamira," Regal mused. "If I'm able to make contact with the Lezareno company, I may be able to see that he's held in custody, at least until he can be expedited. Would you be able to post a letter on my behalf?"

"Yeah, sure," Zelos shrugged. "Shouldn't be a problem."

"I would like to visit Altamira when there is time," Presea volunteered. "I would like to visit my sister's grave."

"Of course," Regal nodded. "I'd like the opportunity to pay my respects as well."

"What happened to Corrine?" Sheena blurted, unable to go on any longer without asking.

"We aren't sure," said Raine, still sour that the course of scientific progress had been obstructed, "But we do have  _ some _ theories."

* * *

"The short version," I said, when we had relocated once more to the Blue Room to eat and discuss, "Is that Corrine and I were trapped, and I tried to 'jump'," I put down my fork to make scare quotes and possibly some illustrative gestures, "To somewhere I couldn't  _ see _ , but remembered seeing. Corrine had suggested it earlier, but it's really counter-intuitive, so I didn't actually try until there was no other choice."

Dinner was, again, excellent, but less interesting than the day's events. The others were seated more-or-less where they had been the previous night, except Corrine, who was wrapped comfortably around Sheena with his head on top of hers. It looked very cozy, and it had gone a long way towards helping Sheena deal with the sudden - no doubt upsetting - change. He took up nearly an entire couch, and provided mood lighting.

"There was another choice," Corrine pointed out, reasonably and correctly. "Arguably a safer one. But you proceeded, regardless."

"In retrospect," I allowed, "I'm very lucky that I didn't end up as a smear on the door, but I'm not, so, anyway, I imagined - well, actually I imagined the servant's entrance to the castle, from when we went with Presea, but instead I ended up in the... I've been calling it the Etheric plane. Niflheim has the wrong connotations for me."

"From my perspective," said Corrine, "It was as if I became more myself." He seemed to realize that this wasn't a very satisfying explanation, and went on. "I mean to say... Before, when I wasn't summoned, it was like sleeping. When Sheena summoned me, it was like being woken up from a dream. But this time, it was as if I was awake in the dream, and I learned how to... how it works."

"I'd posit that Corrine, having been physically forced to enter that... realm," Raine said, "He connected to the natural mana of this world, and grew in power - and in size- as a consequence of that. He was previously isolated, as an 'artificial' Summon Spirit, drawing on a contained well of mana. This is Corrine as a 'real' Summon Spirit, if you'll forgive my word choice."

"Oh," said Lloyd, suddenly, "So Corrine's like an acorn?"

Sheena made a face. "What?"

"I mean," Lloyd said, flushing a little, "He's still Corrine, but he grew 'cuz he got enough sunlight, or whatever."

"Not... exactly," Raine sighed. "But close enough."

"I am the Summon Spirit who has had the most contact with humans," Corrine explained. "Worship makes a Spirit powerful, but so does love, and I've been more loved than any Spirit before me. So while the Ethereal world may have provided the fuel, it was Sheena who provided the spark."

"I thought that Corrine was an acorn," said Presea, frowning. "'Fuel' and 'spark' are not applicable words in that context."

"Both work as independent metaphors," Regal explained, "I don't believe Corrine meant to extend the metaphor put forth by Lloyd, but instead provided his own, which he thought was more suitable."

"Ah," Presea nodded. "So it was his role as a companion to Sheena that permitted him to become more powerful, but sudden exposure to concentrated mana which instigated the process."

"Wouldn't that make Sheena the fuel and the mana the spark?" pointed out Lloyd. "Corrine said it was the other way around."

"I think both interpretations are acceptable," allowed Regal. "I'm not sure that the specific analogy matters in this case."

"So, then, isn't Corrine still Corrine?" Colette asked.

I glanced at Sheena. She'd been unusually quiet - but I couldn't blame her. Corrine was her best friend, now he was ten times bigger and having an identity crisis - one that she'd been absent for. I wasn't sure what the  _ healthy _ response was to something like that, or if there was one at all. This was uncharted territory.

"I am still Corrine," said Corrine - "But I am also Verius, the Summon Spirit of Heart." Lloyd spluttered with laughter. Genis whumped him on the back of the head. "I cannot influence hearts, but I can feel them. I know that I unsettle some of you. But I'm still me," he said, more solemnly, "I hope that you still consider me a friend."

"Of course we do," Sheena spluttered, craning her head to try and look into Corrine's face. "You're still Corrine,  _ and  _ Verius. We'll call you whatever you want."

"Then I am Corrine," he nodded. 

"That's great, and touching, and all," Zelos said, "But doesn't actually explain... Anything that happened."

Raine sniffed. "That's because it's extremely complicated."

"Try me," Zelos prompted. I sighed.

"To understand the nature of the Ethereal plane," Raine began, in the tone of someone steering headlong into a lecture, "One must understand the relationship between  _ matter _ and  _ mana _ ." Not far away, Genis sighed, and Lloyd looked anxiously around as if searching for an emergency exit. Nearly everyone else was listening, although listening and understanding were very different. "Matter is physical substance - anything that takes up space and has mass. Energy is physical, too, although in a less obvious way - imagine a boulder at the top of a hill. It has a great deal of potential energy because of the relationship between its weight, the shape of the hill, and gravity.

"Theoretically, life can exist without mana," she went on. "Edie's memories are proof of that - but her world also lacks magic. That's because mana is the conduit through which magic moves and works; mana has no physical aspect, but it can be influenced by thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. Most spells use invocations because of the power of language to transmit or shape those thoughts, and therefore shape mana.

"A world without intelligent life may still have mana, but the ability to imagine, to think about something abstractly and communicate ideas is necessary in order to produce  _ magic _ . And even that bears thinking about.

"Consider this: we say that only those with Elvish blood can use magic. How is it, then, that Lloyd and Presea can use Guardian? All kinds of martial techniques call for an application of 'willpower' or 'energy'. It's well below the threshold for the amount of mana consumed by 'true magic', which in this context I will call 'artes', as opposed to 'techniques', but it's still a way of manipulating mana. We don't know  _ why _ our world needs mana, only that it does, and that it suffuses everything.

"What we know for certain is that mana isn't bound by the laws of physics - that is to say, it's only influenced by the laws of the material world through its conduits, namely people or animals. Raw, unaspected mana is unfettered by those natural laws, and only becomes so when called on by people, whether through magic or through persistent belief. That means that mana must, in some way, suffuse existence, and we choose to call that relatively uniform blanket of mana the 'Etheric' or 'Ethereal' plane."

She let that sink in.

Even I hadn't understood that, and I'd come up with half of it.

"What Raine is saying," I volunteered, "is that mana's everywhere, but because it can also be anywhere, 'location' and 'time' doesn't really matter. Mana does it's own thing. There's - we say 'world of mana', like there's a world where everything is mana trees and lakes and hills, but it's probably more like a natural force, and I only saw it as a place I could be because there are only so many ways my brain can take in information. Like-" We were running out of usable metaphors, "When a little kid only knows what a dog is, he might point to a horse and say it's a 'big dog', right?"

"When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail," Presea said, after a long moment. "I understand."

" _ I _ don't," Sheena said. "But - you're saying that mana is everywhere, so unless it's being used for a thing it doesn't have one place it has to be, right? Like... Undine is in Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, but she can also take on a physical form when she's needed - but she doesn't  _ have _ to have a form to be Undine."

"Exactly," I said, aiming finger guns at her. "It's only a 'place' to me because I don't have another way to understand it. I don't have the faculties to understand it in any other way, so it's a 'place'. To Undine it's probably just another way of being, like being awake or asleep. She'll obviously understand it in a way I can't, 'cause I'm, you know. Mortal."

"Is that where you go when you teleport?" asked Colette, curious. "To the Ethereal plane?"

I shrugged. "I think... Again, I'm completely spitballing here, but I  _ think _ that, before, because I always went between places I could see, my brain just kind of snipped out the part in between. I always would have this weird feeling of having actually traveled in space, but not having done it - it's hard to explain," I sighed, "But I think, because I could see where I was going, my body kind of stopped midway through the process to get directions."

"I think that's probably how warp pads work," Genis volunteered. "You're like a signal that gets passed from a sender to a receiver, but the conduit is mana. I kind of already knew that's how they worked, but it makes more sense now."

"Angels can do it too," Raine said, more darkly. "But I have reason to think it's a device or technology, rather than an inherent skill, with points of return anchored to preset destinations. You'll notice that warp pads and other teleportation we've seen leaves a momentary after-image, but Edie's is instantaneous - perhaps because she's affecting the change, rather than the change being effected upon her."

"It also explains why Cruxis can't just show up wherever they like," I said. "I'd wondered before why they would let Yuan 'get away' with us, if they could go anywhere they liked. It's nice to know they have  _ some  _ limitations."

Lloyd, who had been drifting alone for some time, returned at last to the stream of conversation.

"But if Edie  _ can _ , isn't that super useful? She could go anywhere just by thinking!" he suggested excitedly.

"No, I can't," I said, apologetic. "I think I can only 'go' somewhere I can clearly remember, and even then, Corrine said something..."

"Being in the Ethereal plane for an extended period of time is dangerous for Edie," Corrine explained. "Even in the short time we were there her body began to decay into pure mana. I'm not sure how many times she would survive the process, and I think great distances would probably cause additional strain." 

"Pure - you didn't tell me that!" Raine snapped, turning to descend on me at once. I was regretting sitting so close to her - especially with all this cutlery around.

"Yeah, 'cause of this," I replied, wriggling out of her grip. "I started 'turning back' when we got here, but it took like two hours. That's why I was so wiped out. When I was in the Etheric plane, it was like I was a ghost lugging around a corpse - it's not a good feeling, Raine."

"...What would happen if Edie did turn into mana?" Colette asked, frowning. 

"Without a summoner or new vessel," Corrine said, oblivious to my ongoing wrestling match with Raine, "Her body and soul would return to the ether, and she would cease to exist." He nodded, content with this explanation. "I don't think it sounds very pleasant."

"That's one way to put it," Zelos said.

"Can someone  _ please _ get her off of me?" I demanded.

Colette and Presea eventually came to my rescue - which was long enough for Raine's brief insanity to pass. She had the grace to be embarrassed, but I knew better than to let down my guard - if I wasn't careful, I'd wake up in the morning missing half my fingernails and a skin sample. Raine was perfectly reasonable 95% of the time; it was just that the other five percent tended to be the most memorable and dangerous to me, personally.

"So you probably shouldn't do it again," Lloyd said, obviously disappointed.

" _ Probably _ ," replied Sheena, unimpressed.

"But... why can you do it in the first place?" asked Lloyd. "That's what I've been wondering. If even the angels need a machine to do it, it's gotta be hard."

I exhaled. "I think... it's because I'm not  _ from _ here. I'm less... real. Not unreal enough to be a Summon Spirit or a monster, but not real enough to be a real person."

Presea frowned. "I think you are a real person."

I smiled, surprised at the tightness in my chest. "Thanks, Presea."

"The experience isn't a complete loss," said Raine, off in her own world. "If etheric space disregards distance and position, then Genis' idea of extra-dimensional storage isn't so far-fetched after all. We'll have to experiment, of course, but being able to dismiss and recall items as one does a Summon Spirit could be extremely useful - especially given that organic matter is unlikely to spoil when converted to mana."

"So not a person," Zelos said, "A walking refrigerator! You must be proud."

I sighed.

* * *

I didn't see Kate that night, and she didn't come down for breakfast, either.

"She's sulking," Zelos said, a little unkindly. "And with a spread like this - rude, honestly."

"She wanted to go home," Presea said, with a hint of reprimand, "But Ozette... is not a safe place for her to be."

"She's a grown woman," Raine pointed out. "If she's from Ozette, then I'm sure she understands the risks of returning home. I'm not sure that confining her here is any kinder than denying her passage, especially to somewhere she feels more comfortable. Meltokio can't be a very happy place for her, at present."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Zelos sighed. "Sebastian's looking into finding her a ride home, but - never mind."

I dimly remembered Kate having some bit role to play later on - but that wasn't really my business.

"So what now?" I asked. "We'll have to get into the archives sooner or later."

"Ah, don't you worry about that," Zelos said, "You got enough dirt on that guy to start a landslide. Me, Sheena, Lloyd and Miss Angel are gonna work on part two of my brilliant plan - all  _ we _ gotta do is make sure that the King sees the evidence, and then it's just a matter of time." He sighed, and leaned back. "I don't think it'll be that hard, honestly - he's never liked the Pope to begin with."

"I found something... interesting," said Regal, slowly, "in the recovered documents." He hadn't been very chatty last night, and he looked like he had something heavy on his mind. "Zelos, do you know the name of the Pope before he was installed as Pope Locuples?"

"Pope who?" asked Lloyd, bewildered.

"Locuples," Raine repeated. "It's his... ceremonial name, I suppose. It's a tradition here."

How and when she'd learned that, I had no idea. 

"So it's not his real name?" Lloyd frowned.

"Legally, the Pope is 'born again' under his new name - whoever he was before being elected is 'dead'," Zelos explained. "It's supposed to be so the Pope isn't 'beholden' to any inheritances or family obligations above the Church, and so he can't give out Church property to his kids or family or whatever, but I think it's just because the Papal name sounds better on paper. The current guy used to be... Lester Koenig, I think? Why?"

Regal sighed. "It may not be the same woman, but Vivian Koenig was a mistress of the last King, and an acquaintance of my family."

"...So, the Pope's got royal blood?" Zelos guessed.

"It may be more significant than that," Regal said. "Up until yesterday, I'd only known Vharley by his first name. Lester - Pope Locuples' documents refer to him as Vharley Koenig." he continued, face darkening. "The stint in the Papal Knights that you mentioned yesterday is one in a long string of expensive failures for the Koenig family. I gather that he was disowned, and his brother continued to support him until he found something he...  _ excelled _ at."

"How... familial," said Raine, nose wrinkling. "No wonder he's so well-connected."

"Wait, Vharley's royalty, too?" asked Lloyd.

"I don't think so," Regal said. "He seems to be the only legitimate son of Vivian Koenig and her husband, although I'd have to see Church records to confirm it.  _ Official _ Church records," he said, after a moment. "It is a small world, indeed."

"You say that," I interjected, "but both Sylvarant and Tethe'alla are probably about the size of my home country. It's not surprising the upper-crust are inbred. Er. Present company excluded."

"Is that true?" Raine asked, clearly more interested in the geography lesson than the dig at local genealogy. 

"I mean, even when we had planes and trains and... automobiles," I paused, "Even with pretty advanced transportation, it'd take..." I squinted, trying to remember my vintage science fiction, "Eighty days? I know on a plane, which probably goes as fast as a Rheaird, it would take at least two days. We basically circumnavigated Sylvarant on foot, so it can't be  _ that _ big."

"By that measure, your world would be enormous," Raine mused. 

"But our gravity's the same," I said, "That's what's weird to me. Even if Aselia originally had the surface area of both Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, that's way smaller than my Earth."

"Hm. Sylvarant and Tethe'alla must be denser than your world," she guessed. "How strange."

"Sylvarant's denser, at least," Genis quipped, "I mean, look at Lloyd."

* * *

While the more recognizable members of our party (two Chosens, Sheena, and Lloyd) went to the palace, the rest of us were stuck hanging around the mansion. I say 'stuck', but Zelos' mansion was full of interesting nooks and crannies, not to mention a stinking great library full of all sorts of books. A lot of them were probably inherited down the Chosen line, but there were also shelves upon shelves of novels, recent nonfiction and what boiled down to popular science.

"Regal," I asked, "Are there a lot of publishing companies in Tethe'alla?"

Regal looked up from his own reading. "I suppose so. The Lezareno company owns shares in Penguinist Books, which I believe is the largest."

" _ Penguinist _ Books."

"Yes?" he was bemused. "Penguinist quills used to be the preferred tool for writing manuscripts, if I remember correctly. That may be apocryphal, however."

"I - never mind," I waved a hand. "So are there also newspapers?" He nodded, a dark look passing over his face. "What?"

"There are a few periodicals - broadsheets - but none are what I would call reputable," he said. "Meltokio has several, as do Altamira, Sybak and Flanoir. They're primarily gossip rags, and tend to be quite cavalier with the truth. There are a few trade journals, if you're looking for recent and verified information. I wouldn't recommend seeking out 'newspapers' unless it is for entertainment value alone."

That had been a long speech, for Regal. It sounded like he'd had personal experience, which wasn't a surprise. 

"So print, but no photographs," I mused. "You know, the difference in technology between here and Sylvarant is big, but the gap between Tethe'alla and Cruxis is  _ huge _ . Does the Church have much of a say in stuff like research and development? I'm surprised you guys don't have steam engines, at least. Sylvarant is just getting into that kind of thing for transportation."

"The Church and Crown have a great deal of sway over what is taught and studied in academic institutions," Regal informed me. "There have been times in our history when steam has been used for manufacturing or power, but it's more common in rural areas with limited access to magitechnology. Some freighters are still steam-powered, but it's a legacy technology."

"But not trains?" He looked bemused. "I mean, you're in business. How do goods get shipped overland?"

Regal raised an eyebrow. "Overland? Wagons, primarily. Shipping by water is more common and more cost-effective, as well as faster. I know there are a few motorized vehicles, but they're not practical for long-distance travel on uncertain roads. Animals can cope with a more variable terrain, or so I'm told. And there are the velocipede carts, within city limits."

"You don't consider Tethe'alla's roads reliable?"

"In comparison to water travel? No. Remote areas are poorly maintained and undefended. Even a well-armed caravan is likely to encounter opportunists."

"Sheena said there were semaphore towers?"

"Along the Imperial Highway, yes," Regal agreed. "But they're not useful in all weather conditions, and require a great deal of training to operate. Depending on the information, it's often more efficient to send someone on a horse or dragon."

"So people do ride dragons," I said, frowning.

"They fly at a much lower altitude than the Rheairds," Regal said, apparently following my train of thought. "And they require special facilities. Most are much smaller than Rodyle's dragons, for instance."

"How about a telegraph?" I asked.

"I'm not familiar with the concept," Regal admitted.

I gnawed on my lip. There was an idea here, but I didn't have the words for it yet. "So if you've got to get from one major city to another, it's probably going to be by boat or carriage, right?" He nodded. "If you send a message, it's probably going to be a letter, but Sheena said that's expensive. Zelos said it'd take a while for Ozette to get word that we were wanted, and he was right, so... Cruxis isn't just hamstringing military technology, but transportation and communication? I kind of get it."

"Hamstringing?"

"In my mind," I said, beginning to pace, "People have a hierarchy of what they try with new technology. First, they see if they can use it to kill people, second, for communication or information-sharing. Tethe'alla  _ is _ more advanced than Sylvarant, but your communications technology is basically identical, and your weapons technology isn't much more advanced. I think Cruxis must be doing it on purpose. Less communication, less advancement, harder to organize stuff."

"That's... an interesting idea," Regal allowed, "But how is it they would influence those developments?"

"Well, all the money's in the Church, right? Or the royal family?"

Realization dawned, and he nodded. "Allocating money or resources to certain projects, and censoring those that might be inconvenient to Cruxis. That is plausible."

"Have you ever met resistance from them in your work?" I asked. "Wait, doesn't Altamira have a roller coaster?"

He was distracted from the first question by the second. "Yes, at Lezareno Park. Why?"

"So you have a powered cart on rails, basically."

"Yes?"

"But you don't have trains, which are the same thing laid out over great distances."

"No. I hadn't considered the idea. Their access would be a problem; laying and maintaining tracks would be expensive. The roller coaster is modeled on a mine cart, which tends to be a smaller closed track. And we have a rail system between the islands of Altamira, but, again, it travels over water. The issues are the same as with overland travel."

"I guess there's no rule about what order things happen in," I said, "It's just interesting. We should talk at some point about infrastructure for Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, when this is all over and Cruxis doesn't have their fingers in it."

He blinked at me, and smiled. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea. A great deal will have to be done, if you and the others succeed."

"When we succeed," I said, smiling. 

It was funny having long talks with Raine and Regal. They were both very, very intelligent, but with odd blind spots or misconceptions. Raine was more practical, but also more easily distracted. Regal was formally educated and naturally perceptive, but he was also sheltered and strangely naive. Zelos was sheltered, too, but quicker on the uptake and better at reading people. Genis might overtake all three, in time, if he learned to take himself less seriously.

I didn't dwell on how they might think about  _ me _ \- it wasn't likely to be flattering.

"You're confident we will?" Regal half-observed, half-asked. Did he need reassuring, or was he just curious?

"We've got a good crew," I said seriously. I knew he still didn't like me or Zelos much, but he'd come this far. He sure wasn't going anywhere as long as Presea was with us, and I couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. "Anyway," I said, eager to make myself scarce before I got on his nerves or vice versa, "Thanks for the info. I gotta go see a man about a horse."

* * *

Raine found me around noon. "I have some ideas," she said. She had a barely-suppressed mania in her eyes, which meant it was probably going to be unpleasant. "Your journey into Etheric space has brought to light some intriguing possibilities," she went on, dragging me by the elbow. I wasn't surprised when she led me into the yard, or to see Genis waiting there. "We've put together some tests to discover more about how you banish and recall objects."

"I did it  _ maybe _ once," I said, as rote protest.

"Yes, but you assumed Etheric space was subject to physical distance. Corrine's account of your journey implies otherwise."

"And if objects turn into mana or become irretrievable?"

"I doubt they will," Raine waved a hand dismissively. "Corrine and I spoke a little more last night. With Sheena's supervision," she clarified, in a put-upon kind of way. "I believe that any deleterious effects would only be present on organic,  _ sentient _ matter; a breakdown of connection between physical form and soul. Inorganic objects or objects lacking in a 'self' would be unaffected, as would spirits or other subjects who are inversely entirely 'self' without 'form'."

"You're completely jumping to conclusions," I pointed out. "You just want me to be a library."

"I am not  _ completely _ jumping to conclusions," she argued, but she couldn't fully defend herself from the other accusation. "At any rate, today's tests will go a long way towards informing us. I'm just telling you my hypothesis."

"Oh, so not only are you sure you're right, you're informing your test subject about the results you want. How unscientific." She swatted at me, and I laughed. "I'm only teasing."

"Well, no, you're correct," Raine sighed, "It is unscientific. I shouldn't have told you what I expected," she went on, regretful, "Magic is largely shaped by expectations and terminology. I'm sorry. I'll try to be more cautious in future."

"Raine, I was joking," I assured her. "You're my best friend. I'd be sad if you didn't talk at me."

"I don't talk  _ at _ you," Raine objected, and then went a very fetching pink. "Best friend?"

"Well, yeah," I said, suddenly embarrassed. I forgot, sometimes, how socially isolated Raine was, and how naive she could be, in her own way. Moments like this reminded me of that. "Feeling doesn't have to be mutual, but you're important to me."

"It's - not at all, we're just a little old to be using terms like 'best friends'," she said, trying to sound dismissive but red to the ears.

I grinned. "No such thing as 'too old'. You'd better watch out or it'll be Best Friends Forever, with hearts around it."

"Hey, can we start?" piped up Genis, looking both amused and frustrated. "Some of us are busy." 

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Busy? You're twelve."

"And you're asking for it." He could really channel his sister, sometimes. 

"Okay, okay," I said, "I'm sorry. Let's go, then. What do you need me to do?"

It was a fun way to spend the afternoon, if you left out the poking and prodding. Genis gave me objects of varying size and composition, and I sent them away. It was interesting; Genis hadn't just gone for testing quantity and distance, but complexity and control. Raine was keeping track of what I had squirreled away at any one time, and kept moving me around the field to see if I could still recall it unchanged.

One of the items was a little cardboard box with an orange inside. Genis asked me to banish the orange, but not the box.

"Still there," I told him, rattling it around. "Sorry."

"No, I expected that," he said. He was a different person when he was solving problems. "Can you send the box away, but keep the orange?"

I tried. "Yes, as it turns out. Why does that work?"

"I don't know," he admitted. The box was returned, and this time Genis taped a pencil to the inside before closing it. "See if you can send it away but leave the pencil behind." I did, and nothing remained. "Okay, so if they're actually adhered together it's harder."

"Harder, but not impossible?" I asked, catching the box on its return journey.

"Well, I don't know if anything is  _ im _ possible," he said. "Like, you can take someone along when you're teleporting, but you also used it to rip Kratos' arm off that one time." I was impressed he could recount the memory without emotion. Either it had been long enough, or the purely academic context had softened the blow. "I think it probably has to do with focus and intention."

I nodded. "Okay, just a second." 

I tried it again. About half a pencil, sheared down the length, dropped. "In my defense, it's hard to figure out where one ends and the other begins, and I was paying attention when you closed it. It was like trying to cleanly cut a string I couldn't see."

"You had to imagine where it was in the box?" Genis asked. "You couldn't 'feel' it in another way?"

I made a face. "Feel? No. It's a pencil. It doesn't change the mana enough, and besides, I couldn't work off just that. There's no sixth sense, or anything. And I definitely wouldn't have been able to work with more than one separate object." I tried a few more times, with varying success. Good thing Zelos had spare pencils. "It's a mental image thing," I admitted. "It's not instinctual, sorry."

Genis shrugged. "The point is to find the limits."

After that, we tried send-and-retrieve in a different way: I would banish the item from my hand, as usual, and then resummon it at a distance. Useful, perhaps, if I wanted to drop a potted plant on someone.

"I can do it," I decided, "But it's aiming again, like with teleportation. More distance, less accurate. I think I could do better with practice, but it's not something you'd want me doing with delicate stuff. It feels," I thought, trying to quantify the experience, "It feels like trying to aim a catapult, but I can't see the catapult, just feel it? That's not a great explanation."

"We'll practice it," Raine promised me. I sighed.

Next up was the inverse: could I banish an object without being in physical contact with it? The answer was: not really. "It's too far away," I said helplessly. "Like, I can't grab on to it. Magically or otherwise."

"You can stretch your invisibility," Raine pointed out.

"Incrementally," I replied, "and I've practiced that a lot. I'm trying, I am, but it's like stretching muscle I didn't know I had. I can't attach to it, and if I can't do that, I don't think I can banish it."

More notes were taken, and we moved on to the next test: scale.

"Obviously we can't have you banish a person," Raine said, in a regretful tone, "But I propose we work our way up until we find the outside limit. I'm assuming any limits we encounter will be in what can be sent and retrieved, not what can be stored."

"Again, not big on saying 'stored'," I said, although I went along with things anyway. "I'm not a cabinet."

"Not yet," muttered Genis.

"I never said you were," Raine continued, prim. "I'll be marking things down by mass  _ and _ volume, in case it makes a difference."

It did. I could 'banish' two dozen pillows tied up in a bedsheet (we'd have to apologize to Sebastian about the grass stains) but if something was too heavy for me to lift, it wasn't going anywhere. It was the same trouble I'd encountered with the earth-mover at Toize; magic might be amazing, but my body was still only meat. If anyone wanted to move a two-tonne statue of Martel, they'd have to do it the old-fashioned way.

"Too bad," Raine remarked, "That could have been useful." I couldn't tell if she was kidding.

I stretched. I was achy, despite how little actual work I was doing. "What next?"

"Next," said Genis, "Is long-term. Something that can spoil, so probably fruit or vegetables. Also, we should keep a list of what you've banished, because if you forget what it is or what it looks like you may not be able to get it back without going there. Then we'll see if you can retrieve the item when we're somewhere far away, and see if it's been affected by time at all."

"I kind of expected Raine to load me up on books first thing," I admitted. "I'm glad you're at least patient."

"I'm not that foolhardy," Raine scoffed. "What if we lost them?"

"Not denying that it's your eventual plan," I pointed out. 

Raine smiled. "Would I lie to my best friend?"

"Best friend?" I repeated. "What are we, ten?"

She hit me for that, but I deserved it.

* * *

The Castle party returned in the late afternoon. We reconvened in the living area of the foyer, and swapped information.

"It worked!" Lloyd announced. "There was a lot of standing around and double-checking things and calling people in to talk about boring stuff, but we're 'cleared of all charges'! They really wanted to know where we got all the papers from, but Zelos said something about an anonymous source, and also Colette scared some people?"

"I didn't mean to," said Colette, looking genuinely distressed. "I just fell a bit."

"It's hard to argue faith when I've got a real-life angel on our side," Zelos explained, patting her on the shoulder. "It went great. Colette was cute, Sheena was scary, and Lloyd did his speechifying thing in front of everybody. Great stuff. The Pope tried to make a break for it, but His Majesty was pretty pissed." He paused. "His Majesty's still kind of testy about the whole 'treason' thing, but he'll get over it. The point is, he was too busy being mad at the Pope to get mad at us, so successes all around."

"He agreed to sit down for talks with Mizuho again," Sheena pointed out. "That's going to be big for my people. If it's okay, I might take the evening and tomorrow to go check in with the Chief and brief him on the situation."

Raine nodded. "Of course."

"Any news of Vharley?" asked Regal.

Zelos gave an inconclusive hand-wave. "Not really. His name is plastered all over the documents, and he probably won't be able to wriggle out of it if he's extradited here, but there's a lot of ocean between Meltokio and Altamira. Still might be a good idea to swing by and put a word in the right ears, if you know what I mean."

"What of the left ears?" asked Presea. Zelos took a moment to process, and Regal actually opened his mouth to explain, but hesitated, which was long enough for her to give away the game.

"You made a joke!" Zelos said, exuberant. "Well done, little Rosebud."

Presea smiled. "It was a play on words."

"We'll be able to access the Archives?" asked Raine, gently nudging the conversation back on course.

"Yep, got some assistants coming in and everything. It's a big library," said Zelos, by way of explanation. "It's kind of a repository, too, so there's all kinds of old stuff in there. Even with eight of us, we're gonna need some help if we're gonna find one specific book in good time."

"There are nine of us," Genis pointed out.

"I know," Zelos agreed, "but Lloyd never learned to read."

Genis cackled, and high-fived Zelos. 

I didn't see  _ that _ coming. Since when were _ they  _ getting along?

"I think you're smart, Lloyd," Colette said, patting his arm. Sheena had to turn her head away to keep from laughing. 

Lloyd took it in the spirit as intended. Apparently getting teamed up on softened the blow, rather than the opposite, or maybe his ego really was just that resilient. "Maybe that's why my memory is so good," Lloyd said, cheerful, "I remember a really long and interesting conversation we were having last night. I bet the girls would wanna hear about it."

Genis, after a moment, went fire-engine red. Zelos, bucking expectation, turned a faint pink.

"Excuse me?" asked Sheena, voice dangerous.

Lloyd grinned. Colette and Presea were confused, and Raine was tired. Lloyd ducked and whispered something in Genis' ear that made him go even redder and charge. Lloyd fled up the stairs, and the others gave chase; Sheena wanted to know what it was that had been said, Zelos wanted to keep Lloyd from spilling the beans, and Colette and Presea had simply been swept up in the excitement of play.

"Having so many teenagers in one place is exhausting," she decided. 

"You're gonna have to have the Talk at  _ some _ point, Raine," I muttered. "I bet he doesn't even know why they're embarrassed."

"It wasn't that kind of conversation," Regal sighed, taking me by surprise. I had a bad habit of forgetting he was there. "They were discussing hair products."

I half-turned to him. "Seriously, though," I waved a hand, "At some point they need to be sat down and talked to. Presea's either too old or too young, and I think she understands that, but Genis and the others are young adults. I don't  _ think _ any of them are going to be sneaking off to canoodle, but in the event they do? They need to be informed."

Now Raine was going pink around the ears. She didn't like talking about this. "I can hardly sit the boys down for a chat. Genis  _ is _ my younger sibling, and Lloyd won't understand anything put in clinical terms."

"I could speak to them, if you like," Regal volunteered. "Unless you'd prefer Zelos make the attempt."

My face must have done something, because he smiled.

"I assumed not. I'll speak to them," he decided, "sooner, rather than later."

"Can you explain informed consent to them?" I asked, distant and terrible memories of mandatory health classes surfacing. "It's not that I think you wouldn't, you seem like a reasonable dude, I just wanted to make sure."

"Yes, of course," he assured me, as if he were making some kind of grave oath. "In that case, perhaps Zelos should be included."

"He isn't actually that much of a lech," I observed, "I think he only acts out when he remembers it's expected of him. That said, Sheena did say something about it." My mood darkened a little. It was hard to reconcile Zelos, my friend, with someone who would grope people in the dark. But wasn't that always how it went, with guys? "Yeah, take him with you, even if you have to sit on him. Make it clear that there are consequences."

"You're that concerned?" asked Raine.

"Horseplay is normal with you guys," I said, because it had only been an hour or so since she'd whacked me upside the head, "But that isn't."

Regal had snagged on a different part of my speech. "You think he's feigning his bad behavior?"

I shook my head. "Nah, he's still a brat, but he plays dumb. I guess Lloyd and I have spent the most time with him, out of everyone? He's..." I paused, unsure if this was my place to share, and then shook my head. If I was going to be meddling, there was no point in going halfway. "He's more sensitive than he lets on. Try not to be  _ too _ mean."

"You're very bossy today," Raine said, but she was smiling.

"Well,  _ you _ weren't gonna do anything about it," I said, bumping her elbow with mine.

"I presume the two of you will handle the girls?" Regal suggested, looking between the two of us.

Raine seemed to shrink again. I didn't like the idea, either, but  _ someone _ had to.

"Yeah. Sheena and Colette are way too..." I waggled a hand. "It's better if we actually talk about it." 

His expression twisted slightly. "Forgive me if this is inappropriate, but what do you plan to tell Presea? Since Altessa's, she has referred to herself as an adult, but she's still very much a child. I worry that..." He trailed off.

"Yeah, I know," I agreed. "She's more a kid than she is an adult, that's for sure."

He sighed. "Somehow it feels wrong to leave the saving of the world to a group of teenagers."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, laughing. "It's practically traditional."

* * *

I  _ was _ serious about the Talk. It had been a long time since we'd been in a place where we could be in separate rooms and out of earshot without that being a danger to us, and now we had Regal. All the relationships in the game had been chaste, but this was real life. I also didn't like the idea of the kids working things out through trial-and-error.

"Does Sylvarant not have health education?" I asked Raine, as we washed for dinner.

"Yes, but as I've said, it's normally imparted by the same-sex parent."

"Running low on parents around here," I said. She flicked water at me.

"Yes, I'm aware." She sighed. "It's not been intentionally neglected, there's just never been a good time."

"I know," I agreed, meaning to reassure. "I feel incredibly weird having to bring it up, but it's just...  _ unsafe _ for them, not knowing. They're gonna be famous when all this is over. What if people try to take advantage of them? What if they mess around with one another? It's not pleasant to think about, but it still might happen."

"I  _ was _ a teen once, you know," Raine said. 

Out in the wild, you couldn't afford to be squeamish about bodies. People sometimes had to use the bathroom, and you had to pretend not to hear it. I didn't even want to  _ think _ about Kratos and Colette in that capacity; it was simply too  _ yucky _ . Raine, Sheena and I had all suffered periods on the road, but it wasn't something one discussed except by necessity. I understood avoidance, but a lack of information could have consequences.

"I know," I agreed. "I wasn't even thinking about it, but then Lloyd said the thing and now... Anyway. It's just the conversation and some questions, and after that we can go back to never, ever discussing sex, under any circumstances."

"None at all?" asked Raine, smirking. It shocked a laugh out of me.

"Fine, but only in impolite company."

* * *

After dinner, Regal corralled the boys. Apparently we were doing this  _ tonight _ .

"We're meeting in my room," Raine decided, addressing the girls. "The five of us need to discuss something in private."

Presea and Colette followed without question. Sheena had the presence of mind to look worried. We shepherded them into Raine's room, and Raine locked the door, which really wasn't reassuring.

"What's this about?" Sheena asked, once we had gathered in a loose circle on the carpeted floor. There wasn't room enough on the canopy bed, and there weren't enough chairs. Floor time it was.

"Nothing bad," I said, but my tone must have given it away.

" _ Edie _ ," Sheena pleaded.

"Okay, fine, we need to talk about the birds and the bees. And safety."

"Beekeepers often wear protective veils," offered Presea. "I am not informed on methods regarding ornithology."

Sheena went completely red. "I don't - you're serious."

"Why is Sheena upset?" asked Colette. "What are we talking about?"

"Sex," I said, at the same time that Raine said, "Intimacy and intercourse."

Sheena dropped her head into her knees and gave a muffled scream. I patted her on the shoulder, sympathetic.

"It's okay, Professor," said Colette, "Our neighbors had goats! I helped deliver a little baby once."

"That's all well and good, Colette," said Raine, amused, "But there's more to talk about. I know not all of this will be applicable, and you'll know some of it already, but I believe it's always best to start with the basics. I already locked the door, Sheena, you'll just have to sit through it with the rest of us."

* * *

I'd expected an hour, but the Talk went on much longer. Colette and Presea had questions, and Sheena had some very unfortunate misconceptions. I was side-tracked by a discussion of sexual diversity, which led into an explanation of gender as a spectrum and some customarily thoughtful silences from Presea, who had been blessedly understanding about the whole 'no hanky-panky until you look your age' thing.

Cruxis didn't teach abstinence, but there was still some shame and hesitation around the discussion of sex, and more than once I had to take over because Raine was too embarrassed. She took over once more when I was derailed by an explanation of love languages, and so on.

A female servant scared the life out of us two hours in, delivering snacks and drinks on the suspicion we might need it, and after that it became more like an educational slumber-party. It'd been ages since we'd had a chance for 'girl talk', and Colette and Sheena were taking advantage of the context to speak more casually with Raine, who they thought of as an authority figure.

They didn't seem near so bothered with me, no matter how many times I pointed out that I was older.

"You had a girlfriend?" asked Sheena, shocked.

I nodded. "I met her when I was about your age. Things didn't work out, but we really cared about each other."

"Do you only like girls?" asked Colette, with great interest. 

I shook my head. "It's about the person for me, not the body. Where I come from, a lot of people my age have had more than a few partners. I'm actually pretty prudish by those standards."

"It seems both our worlds put a great deal of emphasis on marriage and two-parent families," Raine observed. "I don't know that I've ever heard doctrine condemning same-sex couples, but a marriage without hope of producing children would certainly be seen as irresponsible or wasteful. There are more similarities than differences, at any rate."

"I'm definitely part of a subculture," I admitted. "Some of my friends are in relationships with multiple people. It's not a secret thing, and it seems to work well for them."

"What? Don't they get jealous?" asked Sheena, incredulous.

"No, it's all discussed. It's all about communication," I explained. "If someone's getting jealous, then either they aren't feeling valued, or they're being too possessive. That's how I understand it, anyway. The point is that people use their words - you have to say what you want, or you aren't going to get it, right? That applies to platonic relationships, too," I said, because Raine had gone funny.

"I wasn't going to say anything."

"Yeah, right."

"So it's like the love languages thing," Sheena deduced. "I get it. It's weird, but I get it."

There was a moment's comfortable silence. 

"If we have been sequestered for this discussion," said Presea, "Then has the same been done to the male half of the party?"

I grinned. "Yep."

"You let Zelos explain stuff to Lloyd and Genis?" asked Sheena. "Really?"

"No, Zelos is a pupil in that particular lesson," Raine said, looking smug. "Regal is in charge."

Sheena grinned, too. "Suits him right."

I sobered. "Sheena, if he ever does anything you don't want, tell us, okay? Zelos is our friend, but you're more important. I know you guys get at each other, but if he's crossing the line..."

Sheena flushed and waved her hands. "I know! I know. I'd tell you. He just runs his mouth, honestly, but he's always been like that. He's a creep, but I don't think he'd ever... I'd tell you," she promised, catching on to my mood. "I'm not afraid of him, and I don't think he'd do anything, but I'd tell you." Her expression twitched. "Well, I'd tell you where to find the body."

I burst into laughter.

"The same goes for any of you, regarding anyone," Raine said. "Shame shouldn't prevent you from finding help."

They nodded solemnly. A moment passed.

"So, anyway," I said, reaching for a shortbread cookie, "Regal's getup - did he pick that out on his own, or what?"

* * *

I woke up to not one, not two, but  _ three _ brand-new sets of clothing, a full set of shiny hardened-leather armor, a professional sharpening kit, and a lot of new underthings and socks. There were new boots, mysteriously well-fitting, a new belt, and new backpack. I probably didn't need all of it, but it was still better than Christmas morning. Zelos didn't want us looking shabby on our visit to the Palace, it seemed.

I dressed and went down; the boys and I had agreed on some sword practice last night at dinner.

Zelos was there, but not Lloyd. He swiveled at my approach, and pointed an accusing finger in my direction.

"You."

"Me," I agreed.

"You told Regal he could  _ sit _ on me?"

I laughed. "Did he?"

"Yes," Zelos whined, "It was terrible! Literally the worst three hours of my life.  _ Three hours _ , Edie!"

"I'm surprised he ratted me out," I admitted. "He agreed that it was good for  _ everyone _ to get a refresher."

"Huh," Zelos said, thoughtful. "Well, at least everyone else suffered."

"That's the attitude. Where's Lloyd, anyway?"

"Oh, doing the ironing. What do you think? He's asleep."

"Was it really that bad?"

"Yes," he said, feelingly. 

We'd never practiced together before, but there were training swords, and I followed Zelos through whatever routine  _ he _ was doing. Then we started sparring, for want of something better to do, but not with any ferocity. He was using a shield, and encouraged me to do the same - the angel-killing blade was not necessarily two-handed - but I kept forgetting where it was and banging myself in the forehead with it. 

"I can see why you do daggers," he said, when we'd gotten bored and Lloyd still hadn't showed up.

I rubbed at what would be a new bruise. "It's like trying to move my arm with a kite on it," I said, dropping the shield. "Give me a minute, and we can go again. Me with daggers, you your stuff, no magic?"

"Sure," he agreed. "I'm still annoyed, y'know. Lloyd wouldn't shut up, once he got going. I can't believe that kid's eighteen."

"I know," I sighed. "I was kind of hoping Kratos would handle it, but..." I shrugged.

"He's been a deadbeat this long, why stop now?" replied Zelos.

I laughed, and then the words actually settled. I pointed at him, eyes narrowed. "You said that accidentally  _ on purpose _ ." I was sure of it. Zelos wasn't the kind of person who made such obvious slip-ups. Unless he was, and I was overthinking it.

" _ Ha _ ," said Zelos, just as triumphantly, "You  _ did _ know."

"It's not my business," I grumbled, "Or yours."

"You don't think he'd wanna know?"

"Of course he would," I agreed, "But would anything good come of it? It's not like amends are being made. Just leave it."

"What else do you know?" he asked, picking up his sword again.

He was testing. There was something about his face that I hadn't noticed before. Did he  _ want _ me to call him out? Or was there something else he was implying that I just didn't remember? The latter half of the game was just too blurry in my memory.

"I know that you're my second favorite person in Tethe'alla," I decided, "And that you know how to pick a winner."

He went white, and then gray, and then schooled his features.

"And you think we've got a winning team?"

"Guarantee it," I said, answering the question as seriously - and as cryptically - as it had been asked. "And I think we're better with you than the other way around."

He smiled, but it was the ugly, unhappy one, more of a grimace. "Seriously. All this time? And you're just cool with it?"

It was hard having a conversation where you're talking around the subject, not about it.

"Yeah, so? I'm not psychic, dude, you still do you. I'm just saying that I like you, and I think you'll pick us, 'cause we're better and cooler."

I couldn't read his expression. 

"Do you want a hug?" I asked. That startled him.

"Hug from a pretty lady?" he asked, slipping back into character. "How could I refuse?"

I hugged him. He dropped the practice sword to wrap his arms around my shoulders. He was about a head taller than me, and wider, but something about the motion made him seem frail and small. I rubbed his back, feeling old and a little light-headed. The hug went on for longer than was polite, but neither of us made to move. 

I wondered - when was the last time he got a hug? Just from a friend? The last few days had gone to so many unexpected places. I hadn't imagined that I'd be hugging Zelos today, or that he'd be holding on so tightly.

He did, eventually, disentangle himself. His eyes weren't red, and he had his lopsided smile on again. I smiled, too.

"Thanks," he said, voice a little croaky. 

"No problem, bud." I reached up and pinched his cheek. He wriggled away, clutching at the spot like I'd slugged him full-on in the jaw.

"Ow, what's wrong with you?" He massaged his face, and then paused, and narrowed his eyes at me. " _ Second _ favorite person in Tethe'alla?"

"Raine's first," I explained. 

"Well, can't argue that," he said, eyes sparkling. "Let's have that fight, huh?"

We did.

* * *

I was right about the clothes; everyone had new duds.

After breakfast, we set out for the castle, and, more importantly, the Archives. Raine was vibrating with excitement, but almost everyone else was tired. Sheena and Colette were in a very chirpy mood, Presea thoughtful, and the boys more-or-less sullen. I walked with Regal, unusually eager to hear his perspective on how things had gone.

"As well as can be expected," he told me. "Zelos was actually quite helpful, after a fashion, and reasonably respectful."

"Well, that's good to hear," I said, bemused. That had apparently been the extent of his report, but it felt rude to leave off at that. "You've been to the castle before?"

He nodded. "Several times. The last was at the Princess' birthday party, when she turned sixteen."

I tried to do some mental math. "She's in her twenties? She doesn't look it." 

"Neither do you," he said, but it wasn't flattery. It was observational. "I'm sure she rarely goes out-of-doors without a shade, and to my knowledge does no physical labor. If circumstances had been different, I could have mistaken you for a member of the upper class.  _ Very _ different," he allowed, glancing at my chin, which had the most visible of all my scars. "I'm sorry," he said, after a moment, "I, of all people, should not be commenting on others' physical appearance."

I shrugged. "It's fine. I look my age to me." People did live  _ harder _ in Tethe'alla and Sylvarant, but in Tethe'alla, the difference wasn't so extreme. The Princess probably had aestheticians to lean on, but I just had chubby cheeks. "Also, I got this scar because I fell, not in battle. A bunch of people saw me and it was incredibly embarrassing."

"Ah. Well," Regal said, "Still a kind of battle-scar. Social humiliation cuts deep."

"You said humiliation, not me."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply..."

"I was joking," I assured him, waving a hand. "Never mind." A thought occurred. "So, why the crop top?"

"Crop top?"

"Your shirt," I gestured. "There's no torso bit."

"It's what I was issued," he said, looking down as if he'd forgotten about the foot or so of bare skin left open to the elements. Maybe he had. "I suppose I have become comfortable with it. It's certainly less restricting than what I was accustomed to."

"Suits and stuff?"

"Yes," he agreed. "And stuff."

"I thought you just liked showing off," I admitted.

I expected him to blush, or scold me for being inappropriate, but he smirked. 

"That's certainly an upside." 

The Archives were huge. 

I'd expected a library - a place used for reading and studying, but this wasn't that. It was, as Zelos had said, a repository, a storage space for all those written documents accumulated by the Royal Family over the last millennia. It wasn't just books, either, but contracts, deeds, writs of ownership, peerages and pages upon pages of accounts, long past relevance. There were also damaged or unreadable books, nonetheless preserved because of some historic value. It was a  _ lot _ .

I was happy we had the assistants, but it still felt like an impossible task. They had a card catalogue, but the Archives had been built back with the castle, and whatever organization system they'd used was just as ancient. Even the assistants, two of whom were 'Royal scholars', admitted that it was a mess.

"It's really a last resort," one of them explained. "If you can't find it in Sybak, it's probably here, but unless you know exactly what you're looking for..."

I  _ didn't _ know exactly what we were looking for, even with foreknowledge. I didn't remember how they found it, or what the title was - only that there was  _ some _ book in here that would tell us how to cure Colette.

Raine and Zelos lead the effort to search by rough category - Mithos, Martel, Exspheres, Cruxis, Unicorns - and the rest of us assigned shelves and resorted to brute force sorting. If anything sounded vaguely related to the topic at hand, it went on the pile, where Regal (he was a damned quick reader) would skim for anything worth handing to Raine. The good ones went into yet another, smaller pile, and the others went in the quickly-growing 'no' pile.

It was exhausting. The books were heavy, the pages thin and delicate, and the print invariably  _ small _ . Or in cursive, or both - and quite frequently in tiny, cursive Angelic. 

After two hours, my eyes began to ache. After four, my neck was throbbing. 

Snacks helped a little, but after six, I was going cross-eyed.

"Is there a law of the universe," I mused aloud, "That anything you read, academically, has to be done on paper that has a glare?"

"Might as well be," grumbled Zelos. "They should make this a form of punishment."

"I think we  _ all _ need a break," sighed Raine. 

"Sorry, everyone," said Colette, fidgeting. "You're all working so hard for me."

"Of course we are, you dork," Lloyd replied, mussing her hair. "You're important."

A memory resurfaced.

"Hey, Colette," I said, slowly. "I have a really stupid idea."

Colette was immediately all smiles. "Really? Is it funny?"

"Maybe, maybe not," I said, putting aside the volume I'd given up reading. "If it works, it'll be hilarious. If it doesn't work, you can all laugh at me. I think all this reading is making me insane, anyway." I was, speaking frankly, at the point where I would have tried anything, if it meant not reading. Words had lost all meaning, even as I spoke them. What  _ were _ words? What was I doing with my mouth? "It's worth a shot?"

"What is it?" Lloyd asked.

"Colette," I said, mind sluggish. "Can you do this?" I crossed my ankles and did a quick, smooth turn, arms out and hands flexed. It wasn't ballet, but it was footwork, of a sort.

"Hm?" Colette blinked at me, already lifting her hands in preparation. "I'll try!"

She crossed her ankles, started to turn, wobbled, and then, arms pinwheeling, fell sideways into the bookcase. 

I winced as she made impact, because clumsy or not, pain is pain, and hurried forward, feeling stupid. "Shoot, I'm sorry," I said, fussing - had she hit her shoulder? I'd never forgive myself if this had somehow irritated the infection, and neither would anyone else. There was another sound, too quiet for me to identify until it was too late. Pages fluttered, and the spine of a very, very heavy book made contact with my skull.

Pain turned my vision white, but only for a moment. There was a thump as the book slid off my head and onto the floor, and I rubbed the crown of my head.

"Ow," I said, mildly. I wobbled sideways, but I was already kneeling, so there wasn't far to fall.

"What was that?" demanded Raine, a hand under my cheek. Colette was there, too, looking down at me with wide, worried blue eyes. Why was she worried about me? I'd tricked her into falling over.

"Book," I replied. "Ow."

"Look at me," Raine said. "You have a concussion," she sighed.

"S'okay," I said, "Had one before."

"That makes it worse!"

"No way." That was Zelos. 

"What?"

"The book," he went on. Raine shifted overhead. "Ancient elven?"

"What?  _ Crystallus... _ This may be it!"

"Yay," I said.

"Well," said someone, "I didn't expect  _ that _ as a viable method, but here we are."

"Colette's clumsiness is  _ actually _ blessed."

A hand hovered over my forehead, and the world seemed to make marginally more sense. Zelos gave me a bemused smile and propped me up against his shoulder. Raine had entirely forgotten that I existed, but that was alright - she had the book she needed. Colette would be  _ okay _ . After she recovered from her fall, anyway. "I kind of hate that it worked," I said, "Sometimes the memories  _ do _ help."

"You did it on purpose?" asked Sheena. "Seriously?"

"Double Martel power," I said, reaching up to Colette for a high five. She gave it to me, smiling.

"I think you still might have a concussion," Genis said. "Anyway, how could that possibly work?"

Colette brightened.

"Remember at Thoda? I could remember where the Oracle Stone was, even though I hadn't seen it. It wasn't a real thought, but I was drawn towards it. Maybe it was like that!"

I rubbed at my head. It was taking a beating today. "Actually, that's not insane. Sympathetic magic, right? Like pulling towards like? Or affecting like, whichever it was. I wasn't paying attention." My beginning magic lessons had been a long time ago, and I'd sustained at least a few head wounds since then. I could be forgiven some forgetfulness.

"...Okay, fine, maybe there's a resonance there, if Colette's mana is really similar to Martel's," Genis admitted, "But it's still stupid."

"Sorry I made you fall, Colette."

"It's okay! I probably would have fallen eventually, anyway."

"The concussive method of academic research," observed Regal. "What a world we live in."

"Does that usually work?" Presea asked. "Perhaps I should be a librarian."

"I don't think that's... that was a joke," deduced Zelos. "You are way too good at that."

"I've been informed that a straight face is invaluable in comedy," said Presea.

"Well, it's working on Edie," Genis observed. "I think she's crying. That could be the concussion, though."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one got away from me??? Thank you for reading.  
> Today's song on the Edie Playlist is "Hug All Ur Friends" by cavetown. And no, these notes will never be consistent in capitalization.


End file.
